Stronger Today
by Ambrel
Summary: We stayed there in comfortable silence, every now and then smattered with light conversation. It was nice. It felt good to slow down and relax. It gave me some time to think, without distractions. **Aerrow/Piper**
1. Chapter 1

I don't get much time to myself.

That's just something that I have to deal with. Frankly, none of us have much in the way of privacy or personal time. That's what happens when you live with four other people-well, five others, including Radarr. You have to learn to share the bathroom and the hot water. You have to make sure that you don't eat all the food in the pantry when you have a couple days until the next shopping trip. You learn to respect each others space, such as it is, to the best of your abilities. We have finally gotten to the point where we normally show each other some basic courtesy and we manage to give each other the illusion of privacy. However, it is always just an illusion.

Well, except for days like today. Being the leader of the squadron, I tend to wake up a tad earlier than anyone else… except maybe Stork, but half the time, I don't think he even sleeps. But this time, when I left my room, there was no one out on the bridge. No one was in the kitchen. The hangar was bare and the runway outside was empty too. It was perfect. Everyone else was in their rooms and I had the entire rest of the ship to myself for a little while.

Such an opportunity presents itself only rarely, and I was all ready to take advantage of it.

Now, I know Finn would probably be laughing his head right off of his neck to know this, but one of the things that I enjoy doing when I get the time is a nice, long physical fitness regimen. I rarely get the opportunity and this was a perfect chance. It was early enough in the morning that I was pretty sure that no one else would be waking up anytime soon, especially since there would be no missions within the next two weeks. The Condor was in for some rework and that meant that we were grounded at the docks for a couple of weeks.

I put myself through the paces. Normal stretches, calisthenics, pushups, crunches, interspersed with a few laps around the runway every now and then. Then I worked my way up to some of the basic Sky Fu moves, making progress to the more advanced exercises. It was tough work, and with the sun beginning to rise, I was soon sweating through my loose work out gear. The large bottle of water I had taken out there with me was slowly but surely being used up. I was really pushing my workout today and I surely needed the extra hydration.

By the time I had drained my supply of water, the others were up and about. I heard the typical noises of doors opening and closing, and at least one person came up on the hangar deck to do something with the skimmers. Probably Junko. That was his thing. I sighed with the realization that my workout was over. I needed to get inside anyway and see about hitting up the shower. I was pretty gross after all that, and I didn't want to have to wait on Finn to get through with his morning ritual. I don't know how he managed it, but he took longer in the morning than the rest of us combined.

Gathering up my bottle and the towel I had swiped from the linen closet, I moved back inside, toweling the worst of the sweat off of my face and arms. As I passed through the hangar area, I heard a low, off-key humming from the corner that was punctuated every now and then with the sound of metal on metal. Junko was doing whatever it is he did with the rides. He gave me a wave as I passed by before focusing back on the skimmer in front of him. If I wasn't already used to the oddities of life around here, I might have blanched at the sight of my ride's exhaust pipes laying on the floor next to Junko's feet. As it was, I raise my eyebrows, but I knew better than to say anything. Junko knows his business, so I was confident that the skimmer would be good as new eventually.

When I got inside, Finn was still asleep and Piper was in the bathroom. I gathered up my shower supplies from my room and stood patiently out in the hall. I didn't have to wait long. Before I knew it, the door opened and steam rolled out to greet me as Piper sauntered out, still toweling her hair dry. She stopped short when she saw me. "Ugh. Aerrow, you stink."

I laughed. "Thanks a lot."

She held her hand to her nose and edged away from me. "What were you doing this early in the morning? Ick."

"Woke up early. Thought a workout would do me some good."

Piper rolled her eyes at that. "Aerrow, between training with us and all the rough-housing you, Finn, and Junko get into, I don't see why you'd worry."

"No worries. I feel stronger today."

"You should relax when you have the chance."

I shrugged and walked past her, patting her on the shoulder as I went. "Eh, Piper. That IS my relaxation. Maybe you should join me sometime. I'll go easy on you, I promise." I ducked the swat to the back of my head that I knew was coming.

As I made to move to the now vacated bathroom, Piper's hand on my shoulder pulled me up short. "Hey," she said, "I have a proposition for you. Come talk to me in the lab when you're not so smelly, okay?"

"Sure thing."

At my response, she removed her hand and made a show of wiping it off on her towel with a grimace on her face. That elicited a laugh from me as she disappeared down the hallway.

OOO

I love that fresh, clean feeling. You know, how you smell after a nice, hot shower with plenty of soap and shampoo. I didn't even mind the lingering scent of shaving cream this morning either. It all just combined with the mild morning air to give me a nice spring-like scent.

It was worlds better than how I must have reeked when I was sweating bullets after my workout. Yuck.

My hair was more or less dry when I made it to the lab. I had to make sure of it this time, since I had to cross the bridge to get there. The last time I had tried to walk across the bring with wet hair, Stork had gone into an apoplexy. I don't think I had ever made the man mad, personally, until that day, but afterwards I was fully versed in not only the hazards of standing water on the deck, but any number of gangrenous diseases that one could catch by leaving their hair wet for any period of time.

It had taken him two hours to calm down again. To make matters worse, Finn had seen the whole thing and not only congratulated me, but made it his personal mission to outdo me in pissing Stork off.

Piper grinned up at me through some strange eyeglass contraption that she was using to study those crystals. They made her eyes look huge. I almost chuckled, but I held it in. I gave her a lopsided smile in return. "What's going on, Piper?"

"Oh, Aerrow, I'm glad you're here. Hold this." All of a sudden, I was juggling two very different looking crystals in my hands. One was in a small bag and was light blue in color, while the other was a plain old reddish brown energizer crystal. I looked up in time to see Piper moving some implements around on her table before she pointed to a strange receptacle that already contained a translucent crystal and ordered me to put the blue stone into it.

I started to reach into the bag to grab the stone, when she swatted my hand with a pair of tongs that seemed to have come out of no where. "Don't touch that bare handed!"

"Huh? What's the problem?"

She shook her head and snagged the blue crystal out of the bag with the tongs. "Well, do you WANT to be paralyzed for a couple of hours? Because that's almost what happened."

"Oh."

"Let me see the other one." I held out the energizer and she took it.

"So…" I mused, watching her experiment. She was edging the energizer closer to the paralysis stone, which sat on top of the smoker crystal. "What is it you wanted to ask me?"

"Hmmm? Oh, yeah. Hang on a sec." The stones met with a muted click, then..

Nothing. For a good twenty seconds, she stared at them as though they were going to do something. Then she heaved a sigh of frustration and sat straight, pushing her goggles up. Just as she started to turn towards me, there was a low _whump _and a flash of smoke that diffused throughout the room. Piper gave a little squeal of delight, turning back to the crystals and flipping the goggles back down..

I waved my hand in front of my face. Then I groaned. "Uh… Piper? What did you just do?"

"Well, I reversed the polarity and then used the energizer's field to-"

"No.." I tried again. "Not that… Piper, my face is numb. I cant smell anything."

"Uh.. Oops?" She glanced at me, sheepish. "Well.. um.. I guess that should wear off sometime… soon?"

"Uh-huh.. I cant feel my tongue."

"Come to think of it… me neither. I guess I should have had a mask on… Maybe we should let the lab air out a bit. Come on."

We went out to the bridge. Stork was there, of course. Finn must still have been asleep. I flopped comfortably down at the table and she slid onto the seat across from me. By now, my face felt like I had visited a psychotic dentist.

Piper leaned forward. "Well, I was thinking. You know how we're stuck here for the next few days? I did some research and I found out that there is this tiny little terra not far from here. We could get there on our skimmers if we really wanted to. From what I read about it, it has some crystal deposits that aren't really big enough to rate a full scale mining operation, but we might be able to find something interesting there. The terra doesn't even have a name because its so small. I was thinking about going there for a day since we aren't doing anything else."

"Sure Piper. You know we're pretty much having a liberty period right now. As long as we know where each other is, you can go anywhere."

"I knew that. I was going to see if you wanted to come along. I already asked Junko. He said he couldn't. He's doing some modifications to the rides right now. Stork doesn't want to leave the Condor and Finn would probably just roll his eyes at me. I don't want to go along. Its boring to be all excited about something and have no one to share it with."

"Well, when you put it that way, sure. I guess you'll need my skimmer to help transport anything you decide is interesting enough to bring back anyway. We can rig a sack to Radarr's seat or something. He was up late last night beating Finn at some video game or something like that. He's probably going to sleep for the next few hours. We'll have to go see if Junko's put the thing back together though. He had the exhausts off of it when I came in for my shower."

"Alright. Shouldn't take him long."

I stood and gestured toward the hangar. "And maybe my face will stop being numb once we start flying."

"I said I was sorry!"

I kept up the playful banter all the way out there. As it turned out, Junko had finished doing whatever it was he was doing to my ride, and it was put back together all shiny and new. Apparently he had upgraded the exhaust efficiency. It sure ran quieter, which was a good thing. It was always better when your enemy couldn't hear you coming up on them.

After we check up on that, Piper and I went back inside to throw something together for lunch. According to her chart, it would be about a two and a half hour ride just to get to the terra, so we would probably be eating lunch and possibly dinner there. Just as a precaution, I tossed in a mini first aid kit and a couple of blankets. My experience on Terra Zartacla had made me a little cautious when it came to trips to places that were uninhabited. After a moment of thought, a couple coils of rope followed the blankets into the pack up. You could never go wrong with a little rope in most situations.

We let Junko and Stork know where we were headed, made sure we had our radios on out skimmers working, and set out.

Quite possibly, one of my favorite things in the whole world is riding the skies. Its exhilarating and relaxing all at once. It's a little hard to explain to someone who has never done it before, but the way the clouds move above and below, the colors that the sun reflects off of the surfaces all around me… its amazing. I love the wind in my face and the feeling of freedom that the speed lends to me. I think the others feel the same way. Its not often that any of us get the chance to ride like this, with no worries in mind, no really pressing place to be, and with all the time in the world to get there. I wonder if it will be like this when the whole conflict is over. I just hope I survive long enough to see it. I mean, can you imagine the wide expanse of the sky being safe for anyone to travel? It would be a glorious thing.

I let Piper take the lead, since she was the one who knew where we were going. I cruised along at her flank, a little higher and about twenty feet off to port. I shook my head ruefully as I caught myself darting my eyes about, searching out possible ambushes. We were well within Atmosia territory, but I was so used to the danger of the outskirts that I couldn't stop myself from expecting an attack.

Piper rode serenely ahead of me, though. It kinda helped me to put aside my own watchfulness. I mean, this was almost like a vacation, right? You shouldn't be uptight on vacation.

We didn't talk much on the way. I don't know what was going through Piper's mind, but I was happy to enjoy my own thoughts. Like I mentioned earlier, solitude is something that is hard to come by on the ship. I wouldn't trade my situation for anything in the world, don't get me wrong. Its just that sometimes its nice to had some time to yourself. I would probably go crazy if I had too much time on my own though.

The sky was brightening to midmorning by the time I sighted the land that Piper had told me about. She was right about how small it was. It may have been three miles across. I got the impression of a forested landscape. It looked very piney. Oversized ferns decorated the ground and I also caught sight of a bubbling stream that curled into a pool, about forty feet wide. All in all, it looked like something out of a kid's story. I mean, I could see myself going fishing there.

We landed at a relatively clear area near the pool of water. It didn't look as though many people had been through here, at least not lately. There was no sign of any fresh tire treads except what we had just laid down. All of the plantlife was wild and overgrown. No footprints were evident.

"Does anyone ever come here?" I asked.

"Well, before the war it was apparently a place that a lot of scholars would come to stuffy the natural crystal formations, but since then…" She gave a little shrug. "I don't suppose many people make it a habit of getting out to do stuff like this anymore. People are too worried about staying out of the cross fire than learning new things."

"But this place is no where near the front lines!"

"I know that. But people still get scared, Aerrow. Not everyone is like you." she said with a laugh.

I frowned. "I get scared too you know."

"Eh." She walked forward and I had no choice but to follow.

We had been walking for a couple of minutes when I spoke up again. "So… where're these crystals? I only see a bunch of trees."

"I haven't been here before either, you know," She replied. "I never did find a map of the place. People probably came here so much that they knew its ins and outs. Probably never had a need for a map."

"Oh.. ok. So-PIPER! Watch out!"

I dove at Piper sideways. I guess I must outweigh her by a considerable amount, because I sorta bulldozed her off of her feet and into the nearest tree. She looked a little dazed as she came to rest between me and the trunk of some old pine, but she soon caught her breath again. "Aerrow! What are you doing?"

I sat back on my heels. Aside from a couple of dirt and grass stains, neither of us were really any worse for wear. We could have been, though. I rocked back a little more and pointed behind me. "See that?"

She peered around me and the color drained out of her face. "O-ohhh… thanks."

There was a wide chasm that opened in the ground. It was a very abrupt thing. The trees went right up to the lip of the hole. If you weren't paying attention, you'd fall into it easily. And chances were that it was either deep, lined with point rocks, or both. Either way, it would be a very bad idea to go blundering into it.

"Didn't hurt you, did I?" I asked, climbing to my feet and holding out my hand. She took it and I hauled her to her feet.

"I think my back's a little bruised.. and you knocked foreheads with me. But I'll live." She gave me a strained smile and then turned to the chasm. "Hey…"

"What's up?"

"I think I found our crystals."

"Really?" I knelt at the edge and peered inside. Sure enough, there was a muted glint of something down in the depths. "Did you bring anything to use as a light?"

Piper produced her Solarus crystal with a grin. I laughed. "What, no good old fashioned flashlight?"

"That's no fun."

I stood back up after shining the light around from the top of the hole. "Cant really see much from up here. Want to try going in?"

"Do you really have to ask?" She hit me playfully on the shoulder. "Time's a-wasting."

There was a good chance that we would be in that hole for at least several hours, so we decided to take out provisions down inside with us. We used one of the coils of rope as an anchor on the largest tree we could find. I tested my weight against the knots we tied. It held. The tree was an old and sturdy one, the tallest in the area, and there was little chance that it would fail either.

Piper had an anticipatory look on her face. "You first or me?" I asked with a grin.

"Do you have to ask?" She said again, "Get outta my way."

She slid down the rope into the darkness below. I waited a moment to let her get some distance, then I began to climb down too.

You would think that the hole would at least have some light filtering down inside, but it didn't. The trees overhead broke up the sunlight to the point where it only penetrated the hole about five feet before it diffused into darkness. So all I had to orient myself was the merry glow of Piper's Solarus crystal shining through her pocket.

I cant tell you how long we were actually climbing that rope. It seemed like a long way. By the time I heard a squeak from Piper telling me that she had found a ledge, the opening to the chasm was just a small spot above me. I could hardly even make out the light from it.

A moment after Piper's warning, my feet touched the ground too. I squinted at the brightness of the crystal when she pulled it out of her pocket.

The ledge we were on was pretty wide. It looked to be a natural formation of the rock and it was wet. It's a bit weird. Whenever you hear or read about caverns or caves, they never tell you how damp they actually are, but when you think about it, there would BE no cavern without water. I could also faintly hear the sound of dripping somewhere below us. It echoed.

The circle of light from the crystal told us only a little more about our surroundings that we already knew. There was a massive expanse of space underneath us, and the ledge only stuck out about six feet into it. If we slipped and fell, it was probably a long, fatal way down. There was minute reflections bouncing up at us from the dark depths. It also looked like there was another ledge on the opposite side of the hole and about ten or twelve feet lower.

On a closer inspection, I could see an iron ring set into the floor, brown with rust. I pulled on it; it stood firm. From the looks of it, people must have used it to attach their ropes and swing down to the next stone ledge.

As I stood there inspecting it, my foot dislodged a shower of wet gravel. It went spilling from the side of our ledge and rattled as it went down. We both stopped and listened with that peculiar fascination that seems to affect all human beings. You know, the same thing that makes you listen closely for the final impact every time you drop a coin into a dry well.

There was no final impact. At least, none that I could hear.

"I get the feeling this hole is a bit deeper than we thought." I murmured. My voice bumped strangely against the cavern walls.

OOO

Booyah! I'm back!

I hope I can finish this one as fast as I did Breathe, but I wouldn't hold my breath. This was originally going to just be a nice, really long one-shot, but Aerrow doesn't seem to care what I want. He just up and does his own thing.

Finn was a lot nicer to me. At least he gave me SOME control over the story.

Anyhow, I am realizing that Aerrow is a little harder to write than Finn, strangely enough. I'm trying to keep the upbeat charismatic leader thing going right now, whereas with Finn, it was all jokes and idiocy. Fun fun.

If you haven't guessed, I am finally responding to that poll in my profile where people were apparently REALLY wanting a Piper/Aerrow chapter fic. For a while I almost did it from Piper's POV, then I almost did it third person, before I realized that Aerrow wanted to do it the same way Finn did, and who am I to say no?

As always, thank you for reading. Please review, if you enjoyed it, and if you have criticism, I welcome anything constructive.


	2. Chapter 2

The only sound was the quiet breathing of the two of us as we descended down the second rope. I had secured it to the iron ring on the ledge and let the other end fall into the darkness. We couldn't see where the rope ended.

There were stone outcroppings every ten or twenty feet down, each complete with their own sturdy iron ring. We simply looped the rope inside of each ring as we came to it and continued on. I was suddenly glad that the rope was so long. If not, our little adventure would have come to a premature end. Every now and then we would stop to rest, aware that we would accomplish nothing if we tired ourselves out on our journey downwards.

We didn't talk much during this evolution. There wasn't really too much to discuss and keeping a good grip on the rope as the temperature began to slide down was more of a concern, really. The further into the pit we climbed, the cooler the air. And the more damp, too. It was clammy and I could hear that distant drip even more clearly now. There was definitely something dripping quite steadily down below us. The acoustics of the cavern made what must have been a gentle plop of water echo around like a quavering drumbeat.

Perhaps an hour passed. Maybe more. I don't really know. But eventually my stomach began to rumble insistently.

"Hey, Piper."

"Yeah?" she grunted, lowering herself down to the platform I was on. I reached up and steadied her by her waist until she got her footing again on the wet stone. Once she had, I lowered my hands.

"You hungry?"

She dusted herself off and rubbed her hands together. "A little. More sore than anything else. I'm not used to all the climbing."

"Oh, well, let go ahead and have lunch."

She agreed, so we laid one of the blankets out on the ground and I dug around in the sack that I had tied to my waist. Piper had claimed that I was to carry the food and blankets down, since she had her own bag of supplies. When I had tried to take a peek, she had slapped my hand away with an admonition about being too nosy for my own good.

Inside the bag were a couple of sandwiches, some apples, and a loaf of bread with a block of cheese. I snagged the sandwiches and held one out to her. "Please tell me you made these, and not Junko." I said.

She laughed and started eating voraciously. That was enough of an answer for me.

After we had both eaten our fill, Piper raised her arms over her head and stretched out for a long moment. She groaned and I heard the distinct sound of the vertebrae popping in her back. "Ugh.. That climb's no joke."

I smirked, but she probably couldn't really see it in the dimness of our surroundings. "I don't feel any the worse for it."

"Only because you do this sort of thing for fun," she shot back.

"Do not. I guarantee you that I have not found a deep, dark, dank hole to climb around in on the Condor. If I had one, I would probably be playing spelunker every day. And Stork would be mad."

She rolled her eyes. "How much further do you think this goes?"

"Probably not too far. I can hear the water dripping pretty close now. Its probably only a few more ledges."

"I hope our rope is long enough."

I shrugged and grabbed a small rock. I flicked it off the edge and we both listened. It skittered off the sides of the cavern before it landed with a plop. We looked at each other in surprise. That sounded a lot closer than I had even guessed and I think Piper felt the same.

"Shall we start again?" I asked.

"Ugh.. I don't know. I think I may need more of a rest. My arms are killing me!"

"Aw, poor thing. Want me to carry you?"

She made a face at me that made me laugh, and I stretched out on my back on the blanket, folding my hands behind my head. "Okay, okay. Let me know when you want to get started again. And we aren't in any sort of rush, so no worries."

I stared up at the way we had come. The hole up there looked like a tiny pinprick of diffuse light. We had come a really long way. Possibly over a hundred feet down, now. And the temperature reflected it. I just noticed, after having sat down and the heat of effort was no longer keeping me warm, that it really was pretty cold. I rubbed my hands over my arms and stifled a shiver. I glanced over at Piper, who was in the middle of doing the same thing, though she rubbed at her arms a little more briskly than I did. While I had long sleeves and full gloves, her outfit was sleeveless, like normal. I couldn't see too well in the lack of light but I was pretty sure she had goose bumps all over her exposed skin.

"Dork." I commented. I pushed up into a sitting position and rifled through my pack again. "Here." I held out the other blanket. It was nice and thick and even though it wasn't huge, it would cover her adequately enough. She looked at me for a moment.

"What?" She asked, "I'm okay Aerrow. Its just a little chill."

"Nah. You're cold. Take it. Besides, if you're sore, its only going to get worse if you get cold. And I do not want to chance you falling because you get a cramp."

"What about you?"

I grinned. "I'm doing just fine. You know, not wearing short sleeves and all…"

She wrinkled her nose at me and draped the blanket over her shoulders. The shivering stopped almost immediately. "You know, you're too nice for your own good sometimes."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to sit there and watch you freeze. I just hope it doesn't get too much colder. I mean, we only have two blankets and the one we are sitting on is all damp. I don't want either of us to catch something."

She didn't reply. She just burrowed down into the blanket a little more and peered out at me from the dark folds.

"Anyway," I said, stretching out again on the slightly wet blanket we had eaten out lunch on, "Just let me know when you're up to going again, okay?"

"Mm-hmm."

OOO

You know, staring into the darkness leaves you a lot of time to think. This, again, is a luxury that I have very little time to actually indulge in, so I really didn't mind the pause in our climb.

Piper's form was huddle in the blanket, leaning against the wall of the cavern. She looked to be having the same line of thought I did. It was a companionable silence. I turned back to studying the yawning pit that descended ever deeper below us.

I had noticed, somewhere during our climb, that the very walls seemed to have a reflective quality. It seemed to be more reflective the further down we climbed. That was probably the shining glints we had caught sight of from the mouth of the hole. Even down here, it looked almost crystalline, but the stone was mostly smooth. It was really pretty, don't get me wrong, but the whole point of this little excursion was to study up on some crystals. Its kinda hard to do when no crystals are to be seen.

I ddnt really want to say anything to Piper though. She had seemed so excited to come out here. Besides, I reasoned with myself, there was still a chance of crystals down lower, right?

I think the oddest thing about this whole experience thus far was the way everything seemed to intensify the further down we went. I mean, the cold got worse. The shiny surfaces of the walls got even glassier, and the noises seemed to echo and dance even more cacophonously than they had any right to. I was a little worried at that. If it got too much colder… who knows? And the air was damp. That couldn't be good for our lungs.

Great, now I sound like Stork.

I was mulling all this over in my head when I realized that Piper's breathing had changed. Beyond the mild surprise I had with the realization that I was listening out for her breathing, I kept a snort of laughter in the back of my throat. She had fallen asleep.

I guess the climb really did tire her out a little bit. I wasn't surprised. It had even started to make me a bit winded, and not many people, male or female, could take that much rope climbing at the pace we did and not be fatigued.

I decided to go ahead and let her take a nap. It wasn't as though we really needed to be anywhere in particular. Even though I had no frame of reference for the time, I judged that it couldn't be any later than late morning or early afternoon. I could let her rest for about an hour and we would still have plenty of time to explore further down.

I amused myself by flicking pebbles from my perch and listening for them to hit the surface below. Every now and then the landed with a tiny splashing sound that swept up the tunnel like a cymbal crash. How did it amplify noises so completely? Perhaps the tunnel was like a megaphone or something. It made a weird sort of sense, I guess.

So, what would happen if someone stood at the base and shouted something up the shaft? Would someone be able to hear it up at the top? That seemed kinda cool. I could imagine Finn playing all sorts of pranks on Stork if we could ever actually get the Merb to come out here. I try to distance myself from a lot of Finn's antics, but it would be like watching a kid in a candy store.

Then again, I'm not too sure that Finn would be too hot on coming down to the bottom in the first place. Ever since the Black Gorge, he's had this thing about the dark. He doesn't like it at all. Not that he'd ever admit it, though.

That was about how my thoughts went for the next thirty minutes or so. Piper slept blissfully on, making tiny hiccupping noises with each breath she took. Once or twice, she grumbled and shifted her weight around, trying to find a more comfortable position.

I never realized that Piper was such a noisy sleeper.

Not that I ever had the opportunity to find out, in any case. Piper's not one to just doze off, normally. Hell, half the time I forget that she's even a girl. How many women can keep up with a bunch of hyperactive guys?

Not many. Actually, I was still surprised she had made it this far without telling me to slow down. Not to be disparaging or anything, but its pretty much a fact that women tend to be a little physically weaker than men, at least in the arms.

Not that I think Piper's weak. She's not.

She's really strong. I mean-Wait. Am I trying to defend myself to my own conscience here?

Maybe it was time for me to take a break too. I glanced at Piper again.

Like I said, I often forget she's even a she. But she looks a lot more delicate when she sleeps.

Not that I have seen her sleep befo-great. Not only am I talking to myself, I'm going in circles too. Weird.

Anyway. Moving on.

It was about when I was in the middle of my musings that it happened.

A sound that resembled a roaring kraken began to thunder down upon us. Piper woke with a start, her squeal of surprised stolen away by the raging sounds around us. It just echoed over the walls of the cylindrical chasm, wailing up and down as though it were a ghost that couldn't escape. It was frighteningly loud, almost as loud as the Condor's engines at full power. Piper reached out and snagged my arm, pulling me away from the ledge and closer to the wall.

"Aerrow, what's going on?!" She shouted to me. I could just barely hear her over the noise. I slapped both of my hands to my head, covering my ears.

"I don't know!"

She opened her mouth to say something else, but just as the noise swallowed it up, I felt a splatter of cold on my arm. Soon enough, it was followed by more and more dots of cold all over me. Within moments, we were engulfed in a deluge of water that streamed down the walls of the cavern.

It was raining.

The loud noise was rain pounding down in sheets. And even though the leaves of that tree had sheltered the entrance to the tunnel, the rain flowed around the opening like bath water to a drain.

That explained the smooth walls of the tunnel, at least.

I reached over and grabbed her arm, pulling her close to me so I could shout in her ear. "We have to move! If we stay here, the water could slide us off the ledge!"

I think she heard me alright. She nodded in agreement. We rolled the blankets up. They were now sopping wet, but we really couldn't leave them there. I stuffed them inside my pack and grabbed the rope. She nodded her agreement when I motioned for her to follow me down.

I was a little worried. I knew she was tired. I had the feeling that I would have a better chance of catching her if she slipped than she would of catching me.

The progress we made after that was fairly fast, but it felt agonizingly slow in the face of the constant roar of the rain and the cold, cold temperature of the air. If I had thought it was cold before, it was doubly so now. We were both quickly soaked to the bone.

Once or twice, it looked like she might have started to lose her grip, but she held on with grim determination.

About thirty feet later, I sighted the end of the rope. It dangled about ten feet above what had to be the floor of the chasm.

Thank Atmos for Stork's paranoia. I didn't realize how long that rope had been, but apparently Stork never went for halves when it came to supplies… no matter what they were.

I let Piper descend the rope until she was within reach. As soon as she was, I reached up and tapped her ankle. She looked down at me and I was just about to point out the good news when what sounded like an angry crack of a whip rippled down the tunnel, magnified to near godlike decibels. It startled both of us pretty badly, and I suddenly found myself suspended for a timeless moment in thin air, my arms flailing around like I was a demented bird.

I landed with a painful thud, only slightly softened by the foot or so of standing water that I found myself sitting in. I looked up from where I was and time seemed to freeze.

Piper was falling too. She twisted in the air, her eyes squeezed shut and arms waving much like mine did. I saw every moment, clear as a bell in my mind, as she descended almost gracefully towards me.

And because I was seeing everything in slow motion, I had plenty of time to think to myself, _Oh no… this is going to hurt…_

And it did.

But it could have been worse, I guess. I mean, it may not seem like far, but a ten foot fall can really mess you up. I came out of it with a bruised tailbone, the wind knocked out of me, and a hell of a bump on my forehead where Piper's head had knocked against mine when she landed. Aside from that, I was also drenched in icy water. And stunned, to say the least.

The blast of the rain still echoed painfully around us. I felt Piper's weight lift off of me, then I felt myself getting yanked to my feet. I dumbly went along with it, concentrating mostly on trying to draw some air back into my abused lungs.

Ever had the breath knocked out of you? Its not fun. It can virtually paralyze you. I am still not too sure, but I think Piper may have saved my life at that moment. I was gasping for air, sitting in a foot and a half of water. I could have drowned.

I don't remember much of what happened those next few moments. I only recall following the insistent tug on my hand that led me away from the booming tunnel. I stumbled. I know that much. It must have been a real pain to stay with me, but she never let me go.

Eventually, we made it to a place that looked much like any other part of a dank, wet cave. I could still hear the tunnel, but it was much dimmer in my ears than when we were standing in the middle of it. The water here was only around my ankles, and I sank down to my knees as soon as she let me go.

It took a few long minutes to put my bodily functions back in order. My chest felt bruised. My heart was pounding.

Hey, it's a normal human reaction to be a bit scared when you cant breathe. Leave me alone.

"You okay, Aerrow?" Her hand was warm on my brow.

"Y-y-yeah," I answered. As soon as some of the panic left me, as well as a good bit of adrenaline, I started shaking. "S'c-cold."

From the looks of her, she was wet too. But she was no where near as soaked as I was. Even my boxers were wet. Ugh. Wet boxers chafe.

She grabbed my hand and drew me to my feet again. "Lets try to find somewhere dry. If you don't warm up, you're going to get sick."

"Y-y-ou t-t-too."

"Yeah. I know. But I'm not as bad as you right now."

OOO

Chapter two!

Okay, my apologies. I really sat down and started hammering at the keyboard with only the intention of getting them out of that tunnel. I never expected to abuse Aerrow so badly. No matter what I try to do, I seem to give Aerrow the short end of the stick. Even when I'm trying to make a nice fic for him.

Anyway, its his fault for not doing what I plan.

I know this is not too fluffy at the moment, but give me time. Those two are both such positive, alpha personalities that I'm still trying to figure out how they could possibly recognize each others feelings. I get the feeling that Aerrow is quite dense when it comes to romance and Piper probably isn't much better. She has to live with a bunch of guys for crying out loud! She has to be tough.

As always, thank you for the reviews and I would love to see how y'all enjoyed this.

Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

It was so cold.

Had to move. One foot… the next… one step… another.

_Come on, Aerrow. You have to move._

There was noise all around me, but it didn't seem quite as important as t did a while ago.

Darkness. So dark.

I couldn't see.

So cold.

Jagged, ice-filled gasps. Shivers that racked my body from the inside out.

Teeth chattering.

Sloshing wetness against me. Already clammy and slicked with water through my clothes.

_Stay with me!_

Sluggish feet. One in front of the other.

Had to keep going.

_Hey! Lets go Aerrow. Don't stop. Move!_

Someone was talking to me. Was it important?

Couldn't tell.

So cold.

I shook. I had to keep walking.

_Aerrow!_

Stop talking to me… I'm tired.

I'm cold.

_Aerrow! You have to get up!_

The ground was hard. It hurt my knees.

It was cold too. Why was it all so cold?

The ground was rough under my hands.

_Dammit, Aerrow, I cant carry you!_

Why…?

Don't want to get up. Leave me alone.

Just want to rest a little.

Stop tugging on me… cant you see I need to stop?

But…

Too tired to fight you…

_That's right Aerrow. Just a little farther. We can stop soon._

Soon?

So cold.

Follow the voice.

One step. Two. Three, four, five.

Stumbling… lost count.

Start again.

One… two… three…

OOO

_Here. Wait here._

Wait…?

Wait for what?

I stumbled again… my legs weren't cooperating.

What is she doing?

_Just concentrate on staying upright._

What am I waiting for?

What is that noise?

_Hang on. Don't sit down. Don't move. _

Why not?

…I'm tired.

Shivering…

_Almost done. Just wait for me, okay? Don't do anything. I don't want you to pass out._

Not gonna pass out…

…just wanna sleep…

What…?

_Sorry Aerrow. I have to do this. Its going to suck for a minute, but bear with me._

What!? That's cold!

The air…

Was the air warmer now?

_I need you to help me. You're clothes are too wet. I cant get them off by myself._

Huh?

Okay… but why?

_That's it. One sleeve, then the other._

Don't care anymore.

Wet plop… clothes on the ground.

Funny… aren't clothes supposed to keep you warm?

_I cant believe I'm doing this._

What…

I'm so tired… Want to lay down.

Another plop. Small thuds.

My shoes?

Shivering still. Standing in the cold.

Cloths… gone?

_Dammit… if I weren't worried about us both getting hypothermia…_

Cant really understand you…

So cold.

Tired.

_Come here. Sit down here. Good. Now lay down._

Come… huh?

But…

Warmth.

Only a little.

Still…

Want more. Tired of the cold.

Too cold.

Shivering. Not just me. Both of us.

_There. Is that helping?_

Helping.. yes.

Warmer.

Its slow… but its spreading.

Cling to it.

So warm.

OOO

Yes, I know. I ended this chapter here.

But fear not! For another chapter will be uploaded tonight! I didn't hit my target word count with this update so I will be compensating by adding two chapters tonight instead of one. This one just didn't seem to fit with the next scene.

The next update will be in a couple hours, I think, unless I run into horrible writer's block.

Enjoy! Review!


	4. Chapter 4

I came to wakefulness gradually. I was warm and comfortable, if a little stiff. My back complained at me from some corner of my awareness, but it was easy enough to ignore.

I was warm. That in itself felt like a novelty.

Sensation slowly burned through me, almost like when a limb is coming out of a pins and needles state. All of a sudden, the whoosh of the distant rain echoed around me and the sound of water burbled against my ears. I was laying flat on my back on the hard stone ground. I would have complained, but for one fact: It was blessedly free of water. Not dry, per se, but definitely not wet.

It was a good thing, considering the fact that I could tell I was not wearing a shirt. The stony floor scraped almost painfully on my back.

I breathed in deep. The air was still cold, but I was nice and toasty. It seemed almost incongruous, the contrast between the ambient air and my body, but I wasn't in the mood to complain.

I won't go as far as to say that I felt rested. I was still tired as hell. It seemed almost like the cold tendrils of the atmosphere danced just out of reach, waiting for the perfect chance to cling to me again and make me freeze. I shuddered at the very idea of the cold again… and froze when I heard a groan in response to my movement.

My surroundings had barely begun to register fully on my radar. But now they were starting to clamor for my attention.

I have been in some very strange predicaments in my time, but I can certainly say with all due conviction that never once in my life had I ever expected to wake up with Piper nearly naked in my arms.

She wasn't awake yet. I counted that as a small blessing. I could only imagine how awkward this promised to be. I mean, come on! I may be the leader of a squadron, but I'm just like any other guy out there.

Its not like Piper is unattractive, after all. Hell, anyone with a pulse could see that she was pretty. But I tend to forget about things like that during everyday life. Like I mentioned a while ago, she acts so much like one of the guys that its easy to forget that she's a girl, except when its so blatantly…

…obvious?

Well, lets just say that my hair was the only thing that was red.

Like I said earlier, I was on my back. My left arm was pinned beneath Piper, and she was on her side with her head on my shoulder. Her entire body was molded into my side, right down to where her legs were entangled with mine. One of her arms was curled underneath her, her hand cushioning her cheek on my shoulder, while her other arm was draped across my chest. Her fingers curled at the point where my neck met my shoulder and with each breath I took, her nail dragged lightly over my skin. My free hand was loosely gripping her upper arm.

She was wearing only her underwear.

Now… well, now I had a conundrum.

Even if I had the urge to move away, there was no way to extricate myself from such a position without waking her up, guaranteed. And besides, it was warm. And it wasn't like she did this for any ulterior motive, right?

My eyes drifted down to her sleeping form again, and my skin burned.

Piper was REALLY toned. Not to say she ever looked fat, or that I didn't know she was in shape, but you really don't get much of an appreciation of how fit someone is without seeing it first hand. She was all lean muscles and long bone. From my vantage point, she had very little visible fat on her, but it didn't make her look severe or angular at all. I mean, I could definitely see some curves.

Those daily deck jogs she did had a definite result.

She was petite, but by no means weak.

Her skin was dark against mine and it felt so smooth. Her hair tickled my shoulder. Having fallen out of its customary band and come to rest in a haphazard pile over my arm, I was able to appreciate exactly how thick it really was. Ever now and then her hand that rested on my neck twitched. That sent tiny shivers down my spine that had nothing to do with the ambient temperature and much more to do with my suddenly fast heart beat.

She was making those odd noises too. The hiccuppy breath that wasn't quite a snore, the grumble as she tried to find a better position…

It gave me a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I frowned. Such impulses were unworthy of me, after all. And this was hardly the time in any case. The only thing standing between both of us and a very nasty chill was our shared body heat. In my mind, I applauded her for having the presence of mind to remove the soaked clothing and take all the necessary steps to return core temperature to normal. I didn't know how bad I was earlier, but I could imagine. I couldn't even remember most of what occurred after the initial fall from the tunnel. All I could think of was the raging noise and the falling water over the smooth walls of the pit.

I let her sleep for a moment while I peered around at my surroundings.

There was a makeshift wall built up around us. It looked to be made out of swollen pieces of driftwood. I was a little surprised. I never imagined that there would be driftwood in this cavern, but it did make some sort of sense. I mean, the pit we came through opened directly to a forest. There was a good chance that some of it fell inside.

The little driftwood wall was only about a foot high. It was made from many small pieces stacked together in a haphazard sort of way. Piper had probably done it, since I was probably too far out of my mind to have helped. I smiled to myself in pride. My team knows how to take care of themselves. The wall protected us from the worst of any wind and inadvertent splashes of water and it help seal our ambient heat on this side of the barrier with us.

Over on one of the sides of the little wall was our clothing. It was wrinkled and still damp, but it seemed as though Piper had wrung the worst of the water out of them and laid them out to drip dry-or at least as drip as they could in this dank place. I wondered how long it would take for the clothing to be wearable again. It would be inviting a catastrophe to put the wet stuff back on before it was at least moderately dry.

Speaking of time, I couldn't even guess how long we had been down in the hole. And there was no way to see the sun either so we couldn't even hope to gauge the time.

I hoped the guys weren't freaking out. If we had overstayed the evening down here, then there was a good chance that someone noticed. Stork would have, if no one else.

I looked down at Piper. She was still sleeping blissfully away. I was almost loath to wake her up… but, all awkwardness aside, we needed to decide what to do next. We were in the belly of an uncharted cavern on a nameless terra, ill equipped to handle the temperature and conditions we found ourselves in, and we needed to figure out a plan of action. And if anyone could help me do that, it was her.

Besides, my arm was starting to fall asleep.

I gripped her shoulder gently and shook her. "Hey," I said softly.

"Mmm.." she murmured. She stretched against me in one languorous motion, not waking up at all. It was very distracting. She turned her face inward on my shoulder and one of my eyes twitched when I realized that she was nuzzling my chest.

"Uhh…" I started, "Piper..?"

"Mmmm…. Five more minutes.."

Her breath tickled my skin. I felt my blush extend from my face to the rest of my torso.

I cleared my throat diffidently. "Uhm… hey. Wake up." I shook her arm gently again, steeling myself in case she decided to do another one of those long stretches.

Luck was on my side, however. Her eyes fluttered open and she hesitated for a moment before sitting up abruptly. My stomach clenched when I felt some of the cold rush in as soon as she moved away from me. She looked down at me with a worried look on her face. "You okay Aerrow?"

"Yeah…"

She shook her head and sighed in what looked like enormous relief. "Oh, thank goodness. I was so worried about you. You tried to pass out on me so many times!"

"Um… Piper."

"What?"

"Uhh…" I stammered, a bit embarrassed. "Umm.. thanks. I mean, you probably saved my life. That is, you did save my life.

She looked at me a long moment, then turned away with an odd expression. "You'd have done the same for me, right? No big deal. You've saved me before too."

I raised my eyebrows at that. "True, but taking out a Cyclonian skimmer is a far cry from sharing body heat."

Piper was looking at me from the corner of her eye. She snapped her eyes back forward when I looked her way. "No big deal," she repeated, "Besides, its not like I was doing much better by the time we finally made it here. It saved me just as much as it did you."

I pushed myself up to a sitting position, almost loosing my balance during an awkward moment when we both realized that our legs were still twined together. With much blushing and mute, apologetic glances we sorted ourselves out and then sat next to each other in silence.

Piper's crystal was still glowing softly, giving us enough light to see our surroundings. The little wall she had built was still wet. It was too bad that it couldn't dry out in these conditions. A fire would have been very welcome right then.

"So…" I started. I was shivering again. "Do you have any idea how long we're been here?"

She raised an eyebrow at me but said nothing.

I looked out past the barrier. To the right I could see the dark expanse of water. It was fairly placid, looking for all the world as harmless as a glass mirror. Off to the other side was a raised portion of the cavern's floor. It was still damp from the sheer amount of water in the air but it wasn't overrun with wetness. This is what Piper had found to rest on. We were about twenty feet away from the point where the water broke upon the raised floor. I could hear the gentle sound of water lapping at stone and the low voice of the wind that whispered through the cavern. It was such a slight breeze that it was almost nonexistent, but I could still feel the cold cut when it hit my skin.

Wait a minute…

"Piper!" I said excitedly, "There's air circulation!"

She looked blankly at me. "Yeah…"

"That means there has to be a way out of here! The wind couldn't get in unless there was a way to the outside, right?"

"Hey, that's right!"

"All we have to do is find where the wind is the strongest, right? And that should put us close to another entrance."

"Yeah!" She shoved herself to her feet in her excitement and I turned my eyes away from her. My face burned and a dumb grin fought to break out on my face. She had a really nice… uh…

Anyway.

I heard her breath his out of her lips and felt, rather than saw, the shivering that overtook her when the cold hit her. She hunched in on herself and I grabbed her elbow, hauling her back down beside me. She shuddered.

"You okay?" I asked worriedly.

"F-forgot th-th-the cold." She mumbled, rubbing her arms. I laughed.

"Well, we are kinda underdressed."

She just continued to vigorously rub her arms and legs. I watched her out of the corner of my eye for a moment, then sighed and held my arms out to her. "Come here. We need to conserve our heat for the time being. I'll be useless if you go insensible like I did."

She stared at me with a strange look on her face. I couldn't tell in the dim light, but she may have turned a few shades darker. I motioned to her impatiently. "Come on, Piper. You're going to just keep getting colder and that wont do us any good at all."

She edged gingerly into my lap, somehow managing to sit stiffly even as she curled against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her stomach to help secure her core from losing any more heat.

After a moment, she started to stop shivering so violently and I started strategizing.

"We need to make sure we can move freely. Right now, if we get up in the path of the cold air, we'll just become chilled again, and that's no good. Do you think our clothes will dry soon?"

I got a shrug in return. She had her head down and I couldn't see her face.

"Anyway," I continued, "We have two choices. We can either sit here like this until our clothes drain enough water to be wearable again, or we can get our temperatures up with physical activity. That might be enough of a spike to let us withstand the cold long enough to move a little bit."

"Maybe we should wait here for a minute."

She sounded a little strange. A little worried, I craned my neck to look at her. "Okay. Are you still cold?"

Piper met my eyes for a split second before looking away in a hurry. "Y..yeah. I'm still cold. We should wait here I think, for a little bit. If our clothes take very long we can see about trying to get our heart rates up. But we should try to conserve our energy. We don't have much in the way of food right now."

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense." I chuckled and she shifted slightly in my arms. "See, that's why I'm glad you're stuck here with me. Can you imagine if it was Finn here instead of you? Granted, it would be a lot warmer with the way he tends to blow hot air around… but it wouldn't be nearly as pleasant. I would probably still be in a puddle of water somewhere."

Piper rested her head back on my chest. "I know what you mean," she said softly.

I rested back against the wall and settled in to stare out at the darkness. "It could be worse, I guess."

"How's that?"

"Well, just think. You were going to come here alone if no one felt like going with you. I mean, it would be pretty scary if something happened and you were alone. I know you took care of me so far, but I know I could probably not have made in on my own through this. As much as this situation sucks, I'm gland I'm here with you. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Heh, yeah. The guys would probably flip out if they had to cook for themselves."

I chuckled at that. "Yeah. Can you imagine? I don't know which fate would be worse, being stuck down here alone of being stuck on the Condor with Junko's cooking or Stork's Merb Cabbage."

"I think I'd probably prefer being here. At least then I could starve to death without Finn's lame jokes."

"Yeah. Me too. Given the chance, I'll just join you in the hunger strike."

We grew quiet again. Piper's weight against my chest was comforting in an odd sort of way. And there was the warmth that we were sharing that felt good too. I unconsciously tightened my hold around her. "You staying warm now?" I asked.

"Mmm-hmm. Feels good." She answered.

"Good. I'm glad you didn't go on your own."

We lapsed back into a companionable silence again. The sound of the water around us was slow and rhythmic. There was something lulling in that sound and I felt my eyelids begin to droop again. It really wasn't the time to take a nap, I guess, but aside from sitting here and staring into space, there wasn't much else to do.

"Hey Aerrow…"

"Mmm?"

"I-well, that is… thanks. I don't know if I could have made it without you here."

"I'm just glad now that I came with you."

I was treading the borderland between sleep and wakefulness when Piper's voice came floating at me in the gloom. It was so quiet that in my sleep fuzzed state, I couldn't be sure if I heard her, or imagined it.

"I'm glad you're here with me too."

OOO

Okay, I know I said I would update yesterday, but sometimes real life intrudes on the best made plans.

I'm going to try to make up for it again. I'll try to get a second update today.

Also, my goal for this fic is at least one chapter per day, so keep an eye out. This one is looking to be at least ten chapters, perhaps more, depending on where the story goes. Right now, I'm doing my typical thing of shooting from the hip without any idea where one chapter is going from one update to the next, so bear with me. I'll do my best to make everything stay in character.

Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

The sudden drop of noise is what woke me up the second time. I opened my eyes wide, a bit startled at first when I couldn't see. I soon adjusted to the darkness.

The roar of the rain had stopped. I could hear water dipping off of any number of wet surfaces but the constant roaring of the storm had finally passed. It was actually still rather noisy with all the water moving around down here, but in comparison, it was pretty quiet.

Piper was still awake. She was still sitting in my lap and thankfully, still warm. She was humming in a pleasant, off key manner while she played with the hair on my forearms. I still had her held tight against my chest and the places where our skin touched was tacky with moisture. She had shifted her position a little while I had slept, tucking her legs up underneath her and turning a quarter of the way so her shoulder was leaning on me rather than her whole back. I could see her face just a little bit.

She looked like she was in some la la land. Her fingertips gently plucked at my arm as though they had been doing so for hours while she stared off into space. Her face was a mix of thoughtfulness and pensive worry.

I cracked a grin. She didn't see.

"So," I murmured, mentally laughing at the way she jumped in surprise, "Here's silly idea."

"What's that?"

"Well, you have your Solarus stone, right?"

"…Yeah…"

I was silent for a minute. "Well, if I remember right, you once yelled at Finn for using it for a barbeque. When we crashed into the Black Gorge, right?"

"…yeah?"

"And if the crystal could be used to cook for a barbeque…"

Piper stiffened in my lap, elbowing my stomach as she shoved herself upright. "I am so stupid!"

She reached out to the pile of our belongings to snatch the crystal. "We could use this to dry out our clothes. It should only take about an hour, tops."

I released her waist and reached around her for the clothes that were stretched out over the driftwood. We stayed close together while we laid them out on the stone The Solarus crystal was only glowing dimly in the gloom, but at least it was still giving off some energy. It might take a little while, but it would work.

After we had arrayed the clothing around the stone we sat side by side. I was cross legged with my elbows resting on my knees, my chin resting on my clasped hands. Piper sat in a similar fashion, though out of courtesy I kept my eyes straight ahead. It was still cold. Even the solarus crystal had insufficient energy to warm us much, so we were sitting shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip. Somehow this arrangement managed to keep the worst of the cold at bay.

"You know," I said after a while, breaking up the silence. Watching clothing dry was definitely not the most exciting thing in the world. "If we tell the guys about this, we'll never hear the end of it."

She snorted softly. I could barely hear it over the sloshing of the water. "Yeah. Can you imagine the field day that Finn would have over all this? And Stork… don't get me started. He'd be carving our tombstones right now if he could see us."

"Yeah. I wonder how the guys are doing right now though. I mean, I have no idea how long we have been down here… its been long enough for me to get hungry though."

"Me too." As if on cue, her stomach burbled its agreement. "I think we can go ahead and eat something." She opened the bag of food and pulled out two apples. She handed one to me and when I took it, our hands brushed against each other. She pulled back as though she had been burned and I looked at her in askance. She was looking away and biting into her apple.

Strange.

I shrugged to myself and devoured the fruit. It wasn't until then that I noticed exactly how hungry I actually was. It didn't take long before I was sitting there contemplating the gnawed core of the apple. I glanced over at Piper again.

She was watching me out of the corner of my eye. Her gaze snapped forward as soon as I looked up but the look on her face was one of chagrin.

"You okay?" I asked.

She nodded once, then tossed her own apple core away. It landed in the water near us with a plop. "Yeah. So much for new crystals, huh?"

"Don't let it get to you. We might find something yet. Who knows, once our clothes are dry we will be able to explore around a little more. I don't know about you but I am definitely looking forward to being able to move."

Another jerky nod. She still didn't look at me. I frowned.

"You sure you're okay?"

Nod.

"O-kay…"

More silence. I flicked a pebble away and watched it disappear beyond the light of the crystal.

I scratched my knee.

I fidgeted.

Then I sighed. "This is going to take forever."

Piper grunted agreement.

I tried to draw her out again. It was way too boring to sit here and stare. "You know, I don't think I would ever have thought I'd be sitting here in the middle of some cave in my underwear."

"Me either."

"Isnt it kinda funny how weird stuff like this always seems to happen?"

"If by funny, you mean odd.."

"Well, that too. But at least I'm sitting here with you instead of say, Finn."

She peeked at me but looked away just as quickly. "Oh really?"

"Yeah. I mean, guys are really weird about being nude around each other-that is, I know we aren't totally naked, but-and not to say I like being naked around people, because that's really weird. But at least its you, and-wait, that sounded weird too. But-"

By this time, she was laughing. "Its okay Aerrow. I know what you mean."

"Really? Good. Because I couldn't figure it out."

"Yeah. I'll have to agree with you. If I have to be stuck with someone in isolation and barely dressed for hours, I'd pick you." I barely noticed her hand fly up to her mouth. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded."

"Um… thanks?"

Silence again.

This was getting old. Why couldn't we talk all of a sudden? I never was one to endure uncomfortable periods of quiet.

A few minutes later, I grabbed my shirt. It was still damp.

I sat back and sighed. "Too bad Radarr's not here."

"Why's that?"

"I dunno. I'm just a little worried about him. He doesn't like it when I disappear without telling him. I thought we'd be back."

"…I'm sorry."

"Hey, its not your fault. Its not as though you plotted to get us lost in an underground cavern full of water."

"I know. But it is my fault we came here in the first place."

"Bah. What else would I be doing? Working out? We already got a hell of a workout just getting to where we are. I know you're going to probably laugh at this but I feel stronger for having gotten this far with this adventure. Its not that bleak right now, Piper. We're going to beat this and we'll be okay.

'And we'll be better for it. Remember what I said this morning? I feel stronger today and that's what counts."

OOO

I don't know how much longer it took for our clothes to get dry, but it was filled up with the same uncomfortable spurts of conversation the whole time.

I suppressed a sigh of relief when I pulled on my pants. The metal pieces of my armor was freezing, so I stuck them in the bag with the sodden blankets. Piper dressed quickly and I found her looking at me as I dragged on my shirt. "You ready?" She asked.

"Yeah. Lets get out of here."

It was a choice of either walking through the water or continuing on the somewhat dry part of the cavern that Piper had found. Luckily, the wind was coming from over the dry area, and we headed off in that direction.

The cave was pretty much the same scenery repeated. The slick, glassy surface of the rock, the smattering of pebbles, and the dankness of the air that was more liquid than gas. At least we wouldn't go thirsty around here. It could always be worse. The water could be stagnant, after all. And there's always the chance of there never being any airflow, which would make the air unbreathable at this depth.

I shook my head. It tends to make me a little antsy when I start thinking like Stork.

Piper and I walked side by side through the gloom. We were trying to conserve the solarus crystal, so it was packed away and we were making our way pretty much by feel and keeping track of the direction of the gentle breeze that wandered around us. That meant that we had to keep in contact with each other at all times. Since there was no light whatsoever down here, we didn't want to chance getting lost.

Piper's hand was gripping my shoulder while I had my hand on the wall. The texture was a little strange. My gloves slid across the surface as though it was frictionless.

We didn't say much as we walked. That same uncomfortable silence had descended and refused to be moved no matter what I did. I couldn't put my finger on why, but Piper was seeming to be more and more pensive as the time passed. She hadn't seemed to want to talk at all, which was weird for her. She and I could usually talk about nothing all day.

I wondered if I had done anything to make her mad.

I couldn't think of anything. I mean, I know it was really awkward earlier with the no clothes thing, but when you reach that level of cold the only way to restore your core temperature is to strip the wet clothing off and conserve body heat any way you can. Keeping anything other than underwear on would have been a complete death sentence. We would have passed out and never woken up.

And I didn't think I had acted untoward in any way. I didn't ogle her, as some other guys might have done. I didn't touch her in any way other than to keep both of us warm. I respected her space even when I demanded she sit with me.

Maybe that was why she was mad. Was it because I told her to sit in my lap?

I mean, yeah, it wasn't something I would do if the circumstances were different. I don't make a habit of holding nearly naked girls in my lap, generally speaking. But she was really cold and I could tell that if she didn't warm up quick it would have gone badly for her.

Didn't she pretty much do the same thing for me?

I couldn't think of any reason that she would be this upset. And it really bothered me. She's one of my best friends and we shouldn't fight, right?

I was about to open my mouth to say something to that effect when a sudden pain exploded in my shin and I staggered drunkenly to the side, right into Piper. She caught me and kept me from falling.

"Aerrow! What happened?"

I gasped a breath out and reach gingerly down to my left leg. The cloth of my pants was ripped open and so was the skin, but it was a rather superficial wound.

"I think I hit something with my leg."

"Hang on. Lets get out some light and see what it is."

The glare of the solarus crystal seemed blazing, though in reality it was dimming even as she held it out. Before we even looked at whatever hit my leg, we got out the first aide kit. I was glad to see that it was waterproof.

Thanks to Stork, yet again.

The gashes on my leg weren't bad, but they were painful. It always seems to hurt more when you get wounded so close to a bone. In quick order we had my leg disinfected, cleaned, slathered with some ointment, and wrapped in fresh white gauze. My pants were pretty much ruined. Whatever got me must have been pretty sharp to tear through the cloth like that. I wasn't wearing any armor, but my clothing itself is pretty thick and fairly hard to rip. It has to be, living like we do.

She held the light over what looked like a knee high outcropping in the ground. It was a different color than everything else. Where most of the cave's walls were a dull grey black, these outcroppings shone with a brilliant, icy blue sheen. Piper suddenly grew excited and all but shoved me out of her way.

"What is it, Piper?" I asked, regaining my balance.

"Its-" she crouched down and squinted at the rock formation. "Its-"

I edged gingerly over. She reached out a hand and grabbed my wrist. "Wait."

"What's wrong?"

Piper didn't answer. Instead, she moved the solarus crystal around, illuminating the walls and the passage. As she did that, I noticed that there were several more of those outcroppings on the floor and the walls. Not enough to impede our way past, but there was certainly a lot of them. It would be a tight fit in some places. I also noticed that the breeze was stronger here, and the direction from which it came was right through the group of outcroppings.

"Aerrow.." Piper whispered, stepping back to stand close to me. She still had a hold of my wrist. "Be very, very careful. And don't talk too loud. Don't bump anything."

I frowned. The rocks didn't look so dangerous… but then again, Piper knew a lot more about whatever they were than I did.

"Okay… but what is it? The wind's coming from straight behind them. That's the best bet for an exit we have right now."

"Yeah. But we're going to have to plan ahead on how to get there. Aerrow, trust me, you don't want to go walking blindly ahead here."

"Okay, Piper, I do trust you. But what is the big problem? What are those crystals?"

Piper took a deep breath and turned to face me fully. "We were lucky when you bumped your leg. I am surprised nothing happened. One wrong step with these could kill us just as surely as if we had never gotten out of the water when we fell in here." She glanced back at the crystals that grew in the floor. "I wish I had the capability to take some of those back with us to the Condor."

From her tone, I knew better than to suggest just chipping a few off and carrying them in our pockets.

She stood there contemplating, in her own world, before she suddenly turned to me again.

"Aerrow… those crystals are…"

OOO

Dun dun DUNNNN!

I had to do it. I know. I'm evil. But I had to. It was way too tempting.

About halfway through this chapter, I lost all direction. I almost just posted the first scene by itself before I managed to get some inspiration somewhere.

I don't like this chapter all that much. It seemed kinda of jerky and jarring to the storyline to me, but this was the only way I could think of to get them moving again. I really don't want to write a fic where all they do is sit and talk in a cave. Booooring.

I know this update is a little shorter than most of my updates, but hey, its two in one day. Go me.

Anyhow, please review. I love constructive criticism. And I love it when people tell me what their favorite parts were. It helps me to improve the story as I go when I know what tickles your fancy.


	6. Chapter 6

"…Geyser stones. And they are highly unstable."

"Geysers, huh." I edged away from the suddenly ominous blue glow. "So… what, we hit them the wrong way and things go sploosh?"

"That's one way to put it."

We sat there and contemplated the stones some more. It had simply looked like a harmless cluster of crystals at first, but now it seemed a lot more threatening.

Like a minefield.

"Well… any ideas?'

She crouched down and stared intently at the nearest cluster. I have no clue what she was looking for. She stayed like that for nearly a minute. Long enough for me to grow antsy and distracted.

Eventually, she stood up, biting her lower lip and rubbing her hands against the fronts of her pants uncertainly. She looked at me, her eyes surprisingly bright and clear in the dimness of the solarus stone.

"I think that if we are very, VERY careful we might be able to walk through this. It looks tight in some places, but it is doable."

I eyed it skeptically. "You think so? Maybe we should try to find another way out."

"Look around Aerrow. I highly doubt that there is even the most remote chance of that."

Indeed, the entire area was just one long tunnel that funneled into the field of crystals. Short of turning around and going back toward the water, there was no other direction to turn to. I frowned.

"We can do it, Aerrow. We just have to go slow."

"Okay. Are you sure you are steady enough for this? I mean, neither of us is at our best right now."

"If we don't try it now, we're just going to get more tired as the time goes on."

I shrugged. "Alright. How should we do this?"

"Me first. I know what to look for. Just try to step exactly where I step and don't touch anything if you can help it."

I nodded my agreement and she gripped the solarus stone tightly in her hand. The light was still dimming, but it was enough to see. Piper took one step forward and I followed, grinding my teeth together in nervous anticipation.

I had already braved the icy water once and had only survived because of Piper's quick thinking. I was not looking forward to doing it again. I knew that if we were engulfed in a crystal's misfire, we were as good as gone. The geyser crystal would fill up the entire tunnel we were currently standing in, and I had no illusions about the effects of a violent blast of water in a confined space.

If the cold or the drowning didn't kill us, the concussive battering against the walls would.

The going was slow. Each step we took was carefully weighed, analyzed, and debated before we moved on to the next. It was only about thirty feet of ground we had to cover, but there were easily more than twenty clusters of stones within the tunnel and some of them were rather large. The most massive one was about as tall as my waist and as big around as Junko's shoulders. It glittered with a menacing glow that shone in weird, brief pulses. It would have been rather pretty, if it wasn't for the fact that I know it would kill us, given half a chance.

It wasn't too hard to keep pace with Piper's stride. She was smaller than me, yes, but she placed her feet as confidently as she ever did. Sometimes her maneuvers required me to duck or crouch to get away from some obstacle that she barely noticed, but all in all, it wasn't too hard. I had even started letting my mind wander a bit, putting my body on autopilot.

These geyser crystals… that was probably the reason that the whole cavern was so waterlogged and miserable. The geysers probably grew in the cavern floor and got agitated when it rained or something like that. It made me a little leery though. I couldn't tell why these were sitting dry above everything else and why they never detonated. Maybe the water never rose to the height that would agitate them into exploding.

For a while, aside from the noise of the water far behind us in the tunnel, there was no other sound than our breathing and the wet, gritty tap of our feet as we placed them on the slick wet stone. Every now and then we were able to relax for a moment when we hit a clear spot in the midst of the crystals, but soon enough we would enter the fray once more.

We were almost through the field unscathed when I felt a tug on my one remaining pant leg. Directly after, I heard a tinkling sound. Almost like a bell, or crunching ice.

It was as though my stomach, along with most of my other vital organs, dropped into a pit of dread. "Uh…" I squeaked, "Piper?"

She had already stepped out of the crystal field with a triumphant smile on her face. It slowly faded when she heard the sound of my voice. "What is it Aerrow?"

I winced. As she was talking, I heard this really tiny sound. It was almost inaudible.

It sounded like fracturing glass.

"Piper," I whispered, my voice strained as I tried not to raise it. "I think… we should run."

No sooner were the words out of my mouth than the whole world blew up into icy, airless chaos.

Pain exploded in my shoulders as I made contact with a wall.. maybe a ceiling. Even the ground. I don't know. But it was hard and it hurt.

The stream of water propelled me forward. My ears filled up with it. It forced its way into my mouth. The temperature made my teeth ache endlessly. My nose and sinuses burned as the water shot inside.

Let me tell you, a forced cold headache is not a pleasant thing. But that wasn't my main concern.

I blew into Piper. I knew it had to be her, because there was nothing in the cavern that would feel soft and give as easily as another human body. Maybe luck was on our side at that moment, because she and I became entangled in each others limbs long enough to realize what had happened. As soon as I was able, I gripped her tightly, even as the water shoved us ever further down the hall. I think she had the same idea, if less of a grip. My hair burned in pain as she wrapped both of her hands into it.

Of course, at the time, I wasn't thinking about that at all.

Instead, I was concentrating on trying not to panic. I had no air. I had been knocked silly against the walls. I could only try to keep my chin tucked to my chest and my grip tight on Piper as we shot ever faster forward. It was my only hope of surviving this wild ride of death through the tunnels without a major head injury.

Granted, if a rock caught me the right way, it wouldn't matter too much.

I heard distance booms reverberate through the water. At first, I couldn't tell what they were. They started slowly in the beginning before ramping up to resound in a deafening chorus.

_Boom!_

_Ba-BOOM!_

The force of the water increased with every outburst. I dimly realized that it must be the other unstable crystals blowing as they were caught up in the initial geyser's power. And their force was simply adding more speed to our dangerous ride.

It seemed like an eternity, but in reality it must have only been a few seconds, when I finally slammed against a barrier. It was the end of the tunnel.

The force of the geyser held me tight against the wall, rushing so fast that it began to squeeze what little air I had out of my lungs. Even though my eyes were closed, I could see little black dots dancing in my vision. The cold began to eat at me. My extremities were numb. I could barely feel Piper's weight that was pinned up against my chest.

I couldn't think. My head was so woozy.

It was going to end like this.

My eyes struggled to keep from rolling up in my head. The ache from lack of air was agonizing.

I felt my grip start to falter. I felt Piper's hands release my hair.

I felt myself start to shut down again.

The pressure was building.

It was too much.

Pressure…

Darkness…

Cold…

And then….

Release.

OOO

The human stomach can hold an impressive amount of water.

At least, that was what one of my first thoughts were when I woke up and vomited icy water all over the ground where I lay. I looked around in confusion.

I wasn't dead?

A dull roar registered on my senses and I looked toward it. Upwards…

Stars.

I saw stars. The glorious, blessed sight of twinkling stars formed a beautiful halo around a forceful stream of water that spewed out of the side of the cliff, about thirty feet up.

I was being drenched by it. But I didn't care.

I could see the stars.

I was still cold. Shivering violently, in fact. My eyes, wide with surprise, roved over everything I could see.

The muddy ground. The cracked and broken branches above me. They must have broken our fall. I could see hundreds of scratches that scored my arms and legs. My bandage on my leg had been ripped away, showing the raw wound underneath. The sack of provisions was gone too.

Suddenly, I panicked. Where was Piper?

I looked around frantically. She couldn't have landed very far, right? She was right with me until…

I remembered her hands releasing their hold on me.

Oh, no..

I shoved myself up from the ground and whipped my head around.

Piper lay on her side a few feet away, facing away from me.

I forced my battered limbs to move and I dragged myself over to her. I rolled her over on her back.

She wasn't moving.

"Oh no," I said. I pressed my ear to her chest.

No breathing.

My hand on her neck.

A pulse. Weak, but there.

She must have breathed in water.

I almost lost myself in panic before my training took over.

Tilt her head. Look in her mouth. No obstructions?

Good.

Two breaths. Listen for reaction.

Chest compressions.

Repeat.

I don't know how long I performed emergency chest compressions on her.. I know I might have broken a rib or two. I heard a crack once or twice.

I was beat. Let me tell you, doing this is tiring. It makes you light headed and puts such a strain on your arms that you would imagine that they were going to rip right off of your body,

It had to have been several minutes. I could hear myself releasing sobbing breaths with each successive set of compressions. My head ached terribly, but I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop.

I couldn't let my teammate die.

So I continued. For what felt like an eternity, I continued to lend her my breath. I continued to artificially pump the air into her body with my very hands.

I don't know when I started crying, but the tears did come. With every movement, every single set, they fell. I started talking to her. I told her how much we depended on her, not only as a teammate but as a friend. I yelled at her. Told her she couldnt quit. She had to see the war through with the rest of us. Begged her to breathe.

I was hoarse and light headed, but I wouldnt stop. I couldn't.

She still had a pulse. She was still there. I just had to find her and bring her back.

But life saving resuscitation takes a lot out of you. I was already fatigued from the previous hours of trial and hardship and it was beginning to tell on me.

And when I thought I would finally drop from my exertions, I heard the most wonderful sound in the world.

It was a wet and soggy cough. Then another.

A breath, drawn in and hitched against lungs half filled with water.

I reached down and cradled her head, pulling her up into my lap and holding her stable while she retched water from her stomach and lungs. The iciness spilled over my lap and onto the ground, but I didn't care.

Her eyes opened and she stared at me for a moment. "A-aerr-" she tried, her voice sounding as though she had gargled with sand.

"I'm here Piper. You scared me. You weren't breathing." I held her like a child. She tried to support herself on her hands but she didn't have the equilibrium.

"What…" Piper squeezed her eyes shut. "Wha-…happ'n'd?" she rasped.

"I snagged one of the crystals. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. I didn't know what had happened until it was too late." The full force of my exhaustion was beginning to overtake me. The headache.. lightheadedness.. it was all coming down at once. I wavered to the side.

Piper landed on her back beside me.

The night was cool. The stars shone brightly over the torn tree branches. The roar of the brand new waterfall was lulling. I wanted to fall asleep there.

But we couldn't. We were laying in thick mud and the water was drenching us both. We had to move or face the cold again.

And with water in our lungs, that was inviting disaster yet again.

I battled the angry fatigue that suffused my limbs and levered myself up once more. Piper's eyes rested lethargically on me, but she didn't try to move. I reached down to her and gripped her arms, my movements clumsy and wooden.

"Come on, Piper. We have to move."

"Mmm…"

She struggled to her feet. I ended up taking most of her weight onto me.

It was agony. I was so tired.

There was dry ground not too far away. That was as far as we needed to go.

We only needed dry ground.

Stumbling and cursing, slipping and sometimes falling… I don't know how we made it. But we did.

We fell into a heap against a tree. I dimly realized in the back of my mind that Piper was cold, colder than she should be. Having gotten the water inside her lungs and stomach, she was at risk of developing some complications.

I didn't have the presence of mind to do anything but rest against the tree trunk with her small frame gathered to my chest.

So tired.

My eyes were closing of their own accord. The air around me was blessedly warm after spending so much time in the cave. Piper's body heat was beginning to permeate through my torso as well.

I was speeding towards sleep. But I heard her voice, raspy and raw. "Aerrow.."

I was so tired.. couldn't reply.

I thought I felt a soft pressure against my lips.

But that may have just been the wind.

OOO

Okay, there you go. I almost didn't update today but I decided that I needed to keep it up. I get the feeling that if I skip a day I might lose my momentum.

Before anyone asks, yes, I am CPR qualified. Do I know if Aerrow is? Who knows? But in this fic, he is.

I'm sorry if the time flow is a bit weird on this one. I just finished up doing a physical fitness assessment and I am tired as all hell, so this might not be the best of updates in the world.

If you like, please review. Criticism is welcome.

And I was nice this time. No cliff hanger.


	7. Chapter 7

Rainbows are beautiful.

Seriously. How often do you get the chance to just stop and stare at a rainbow? I don't get the chance very often. There's always something to do, or places to go, or enemies to fight. Things just never seem to slow down long enough to really take notice of the simple pleasures in life. Things like riding through the sky, carefree. Talking with a friend about nothing at all. The good feeling of achy soreness you get after a particularly good work out. Good food.

Being alive.

That's the most important one. I know I'm just musing, but I think most people go through life without actually living for anything. They don't really lift their eyes from the road before them. They never see the sky, or the possibilities that lie just beyond the horizon.

Now, I wont go as far as to say that I am some all knowing, sage individual. Far from it. But I think I now know the importance of living beyond yourself. For something other than yourself. The idea that there is something out there that is greater than your original purpose is a huge concept. And I think a lot of people have trouble realizing that. So they just don't think about it.

I never thought about it. Until now, that is.

The day was bright and warm and I couldn't help but marvel at the contrast between the sunny morning air and the stony cold of the cave. The sun was hardly above the horizon but its light shone down over the small terra with intensity.

The light refracted inside the new waterfall that continued to pump furiously out of the side of the cliff that we had fallen out of. The rainbow it made was large and luminous and I had been staring at it for at least an hour.

Beautiful.

Looking at the small wonder of nature that was that rainbow made it easier to deal with the pain that my body was in.

I wasn't actually wounded badly at all. The worst of my pains was my gashed leg, which wept a little blood but was still superficial. I was aching though. Down to the muscle. Straight through the bone. I hurt all over. It felt as though someone had dragged me through a field of thorns before pounding my body with a mallet. I had bruises covering my skin and there were scrapes, cuts, and gashes all over me. My clothing was looking much the worse for wear, and to top it all off, I was caked in drying mud. It was thick and gritty stuff. It made my clothing stiff and difficult to move.

It was too much effort to move right now anyway. That's why I was contemplating the rainbow.

I just didn't want to move.

I was alive. Even though it hurt so much right now, I was alive.

I let my eyes roll down from the rainbow to my lap.

She was alive too.

I remembered dimly what had happened earlier. The sheer weight of the fatigue that had gripped me. The mad, frustrating scramble to get away from the water to a place to rest. We had fallen down together and I remembered doing my best to keep Piper close so she wouldn't get chilled.

Then darkness. Until I woke up, that is.

I sat leaning against the bower of a tree with my arms fallen to the ground beside me and my legs all akimbo. Piper had slid down my chest during the night and she now lay with her head pillowed on my left thigh. She was sleeping deeply and profoundly. The sleep of someone who had been pushed to the limits of endurance and desperately needed to recharge.

She was no better than I was at the moment. Covered in mud and bruises. I knew her chest had to be agonizing. I heard the cracking noises when I was resuscitating her earlier. At least one or two ribs must have cracked.

I took a deep breath in. I was still tired but I could no longer sleep. Somehow I had just awoken and I couldn't get my eyes to stay closed no matter how much I tried. I couldn't do anything beyond sit there and watch the waterfall and keep a weird sort of vigil over Piper's rest.

Even now, I was marveling that she was still breathing. She had scared me last night. Badly. I mean, we had all gotten into some tight squeezes before but we never got seriously hurt. Even back when we first became the Storm Hawks and Finn and Junko were captured by the Cyclonian empire… even then, we never seriously considered the possibility that some of us might not make it back.

It was like a big game to us. In some ways, I suppose, it always would be.

But Piper could have died last night. Hell, we both could have. It was sheer luck that I hadn't breathed any other water in myself. What would have happened if I hadn't regained my consciousness when I did?

Piper hadn't been breathing. A few more minutes like that and she would have died.

I closed my eyes. That thought… the idea that one of my teammates would be gone… it physically hurt. I clenched my teeth together and fumbling my right hand to her. I gripped her shoulder gently and felt the flex of the muscles there. It warmed me. Reassured me that she was really still there.

I know that we all accepted the risks when we agreed to become a squadron. I would lay down my life for each and every one of my teammates without a second thought. I would do anything for all of them. But I don't think I could ever accept them doing the same for me.

Emotion was running high within me by now. The tears slid from beneath my closed eyes, hot and silent. I was glad that Piper was still asleep. I hate it when people see me cry.

Its not something a leader should do. Its not something that I should show to my friends.

Its private.

I've learned to let my emotions drain discretely. I never sob or choke up. I don't carry on or whine or anything like that. When I finally cannot hold in my tears anymore, they are silent and unseen by the others.

I let my hand, trembling and unsteady, rove over Piper's face and gently touch her hair. Even though I cradled her head in my lap, even though I could feel each strong breath she took, I still couldn't seem to convince myself that everything was okay.

I mean, she had almost died.

And it was _my fault._

If I had only been more careful. If I had never stepped so close to that last crystal. I don't think I could have lived with the guilt of Piper's death if it had come to that. How could I have faced the guys after that? How could I have looked Radarr in the face, knowing that I was the reason for the death of one of my most valued friends?

I couldn't. It was as simple as that.

Piper was a huge part of the team. Even the one time she had left, we all felt the hole that had opened up in her place. And that hadn't even been for real.

We needed her. There was no way around that. Piper had to live. Had to be with us. Had to stay.

It had scared me so badly… that was one thing I never, ever wanted to see happen again.

So now I wept, both because she was injured on my account, and because I was so very relieved that she survived.

The tears ran hot and strong for several minutes before they subsided. I sniffed loudly, my nose having gotten stuffy.

I opened my eyes. She was still laying there, like she had been for the past few hours, restful and seemingly at peace in my lap. One of her hands twitched, tickling my leg with her fingertips.

I trailed my fingers over her face again, this time watching as the touch elicited a slight tightening of the skin as my hand passed over it.

"I'm glad you're okay," I whispered. My voice was broken. It caught painfully on the breeze.

I sat there for hours, letting her sleep. My hand made constant motions over the side of her face and hair as I looked up again to stare at the glittering waterfall and the refractions of the sun stretching out over the sky.

Rainbows are beautiful.

OOO

The sun had climbed high into the sky by the time she started to stir.

She stretched first, yelping as soon as her ribs moved. I winced in sympathy and touched her shoulders gently.

She opened her eyes and looked around uncomprehendingly at first. She stared up at me for a moment. "Aerrow?"

"I'm here. Are you okay?"

Piper winced and tried to sit up. She got perhaps a third of the way there before she curled over to the side in pain. "Ooh…."

I hurried to support her back, ignoring my own aches that protested any motion on my part. "Hey, take it easy. I think you have a broken rib or two."

"Huh? How-ow! Did I do that?"

"I had to resuscitate you." I said, "And I think I might have been a little too…rough?"

"Oh." She murmured, "I remember." Then after a moment, she blushed furiously. She gingerly sat up straighter and pushed my hands away.

"You okay?"

"As okay as I can be with…ow…"

"Maybe you should lay down again or something. Its only been a few hours."

She looked up at the sky. "I wonder how long its been since we got here… I'm hungry."

"Yeah."

"And… gross."

I raised my eyebrows. "Piper, you definitely aren't gross. What makes you say that?"

She looked away, but motioned to her mud splattered frame. "Um… maybe all the crud that we have all over us? I feel disgusting."

"Uh… that. Yeah. I understand what you mean now."

"So… what now, Aerrow?"

"I don't know. Can you stand up?"

"I'll try. I think you might have to help me get up but I should be able to walk on my own."

I nodded, extricated myself from her with some difficulty due to my various minor ailments, then held out my hand to her. She gripped it and tried to pull herself to her feet but it was soon apparent that she would need a lot more help than just a hand up.

I crouched down and hooked my hands beneath her arms. On the count of three, I lifted and she shoved awkwardly against the ground. It was hard but she was light, so in short order she was standing, albeit unsteadily. I didn't release her just yet. "You sure you can stand on your own?" I asked.

"What are you going to do if I cant? Carry me?" She tried to laugh it off but the pain made her gasp. "I'll be fine. We'll just have to go slow."

"Okay," I replied, "But you have to tell me when you need to rest, you got it? I don't need you hurting yourself more. I-" I stopped.

She looked at me curiously. "What?"

I looked away and cleared my throat. "I just don't want you to get hurt again." I glanced back at her. She was staring at me with an odd look in her eyes. "I mean, it was my fault… I don't know what I would do if… well. You know."

Piper said nothing. I looked away again, uncomfortable for some reason. She reached over and squeezed me shoulder. "It wasn't your fault Aerrow. Didn't it only happen because you saved me in the first place?"

I forced a laugh. It sounded so fake. "Yeah. You know, we're just saving each other all over the place lately aren't we?"

I felt her hand drop away and I could see the flash of motion as she shook her head. "Where do we go now?"

I stared at the landscape around us. "I think our skimmers are on higher ground. We went pretty deep into that cavern… then the water spit us out over there at that cliff." I pointed at the waterspout. It was still going strong. "If we cant find another way up, we're going to have to go hiking. Are you up for that?"

Piper grimaced. "I don't have much of a choice do I?"

"Lets head towards the cliff then. Maybe we'll find a path or something up the side."

She nodded. We started off slowly, so as not to push her too much in her wounded state. "Ugh.. and while we're at it, lets try to find a place to rinse off. I feel like I've been helping Junko grease the Condor's bearings joints again."

I barked a surprised laugh. "He actually talked you into doing that?"

"Yeah… I'm a sucker for the puppy dog eyes."

"I'm so glad I'm immune to that. I mean, its bad enough with Radarr… could you imagine if he could get me with his cute faces?"

"Yeah… why do you think I make all those sandcakes for him? Its not like he pays me for that."

"Mmm… Sandcakes. I could go for one of those about now. Think there will be any left when we get home?"

"Doubt it. Stork will have eaten them if Radarr didn't."

"Ah… damn. I'll just have to sweet talk you into making some more when you feel up to it then, wont I?" I grinned. "I'll have to try the puppy dog stare if you say no."

She choked back a laugh. "Ow.. that hurts."

I frowned. "I'm sorry.. I don't want to hurt you Piper."

"Its okay.. but.. Aerrow?" At the tone of her voice, I glanced back with curiousity.

"Yeah?"

I felt the warmth of her hand on my cheek. I looked at her in surprise. She was staring straight into my eyes with such an odd look. It was scary, intense, and gave me a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. She looked at me as though she was searching for something and I just looked back with my eyes wide open in surprise. After a moment, she sighed and let her hand fall from my face. "I just… thanks."

She moved ahead of me in a slow staggering step. I looked after her with confusion growing through me. I could still feel the warmth of her hand.

What was all that about?

OOO

Well, here's another one. Hope you like it. It feels kinda short, but hey, I only had about an hour to spare for this one. I didnt have much direction with this chapter, which is why it didnt really do much but get them up and walking again.

I might be able to update again tonight but don't hold your breath too long. I will definitely have a new chapter up tomorrow, right on schedule.

Please review if you are of a mind to, and thank you for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

She wasn't talking to me.

Sure, she made an effort to answer any questions I posed at her. She didn't precisely ignore me.. but she didn't seem to want to be too close to me either. I didn't really know what to make of it all. After a few more fruitless attempts at filling the air between us, I backed off with a frown.

Did I do something?

I mean, she sure was being moody. And normally, that only happens when we mess up. Like when her plans don't go as she wanted… when we mess with her lab… stuff like that. I couldn't remember doing anything to the magnitude of wrecking her experiments or anything.

I wracked my brain as we climbed the rocky cliff side. Even though I was turned inward, though, I still made sure to keep a close eye on Piper and call for frequent rests. She wasn't complaining, which didn't surprise me, but a cracked rib is a cracked rib. Sure, there really wasn't too much damage, nor was there anything we could really do about a rib, but it was bound to hurt like hell. The types of injuries a person could sustain from getting their chests pounded like Piper did was actually very minor, but it still hurt like no one's business. In fact, it is fully possible to engage in all sorts of activities with the injury Piper had, as long as you could work through the pain.

I shied away from that thought. I hated the idea that she was in pain due to something I did. Even if it did save her life. It still hurt her, right?

I don't want anyone hurt on my account.

I stared at the back of Piper's head during my internal inventory of my recent actions. I was sure there was something that I had done that had made her mad. Even though I don't really get on her bad side, I have been known to inadvertently say or do something stupid every now and then.

I shook my head. Worrying about that right now was a moot point. We had to move.

The way was hard at first. The ascent was nearly vertical at points and I called frequent rests due to my concern of Piper's wounds. Sometimes she would shoot me a look that told me she knew what I was about when I told her to wait a while, but she always complied. Most of the time she only acknowledged my order with a brief nod of her head. She would always sit with her face angled away from me and her eyes down cast.

I started to feel a little like a bad guy for some reason.

The sun had already passed its zenith and was on a gentle descent through the clouds when the rough climb finally began to ease. I started to see grass and greenery, as opposed to the rocky dirt that we had been clambering over for hours. Looking over my shoulder, I was surprised to see the distance we had climbed. It was too soon to be celebrating, though, because we still had quite a distance to cover. The shadow of the terra hung over a good bit of where we were standing and I could see clouds wisping around the area that I was estimating that we had parked our skimmers.

The steep rocky area that we were climbing flattened gradually into a plateau. I saw a stand of trees off to one side and tapped Piper's arm. I gestured. "I think we should take a break. Maybe we'll find something to eat over there. Water, too. Trees usually grow around water."

Piper glanced quickly at my face before she looked away. "That sounds good." She mumbled her voice still raw.

She was staggering a bit. I held her by the elbow and helped to guide her the thirty or forty feet to the trees.

I was right. The trees were growing near a rather good sized stream. There wasn't much in the way of fruits or berries in the grove, much to my disappointment. I am telling you, I was hungry by then. No joke.

I drank my fill of water. It would have to hold over for now. Then I turned in time to see Piper painfully lowering herself to the shore so she could get a drink too.. and I winced. She was having a hard time of it. I clenched and unclenched my hands in uncertainty before I decided that it would be less of an imposition to help than it would be to let her fall in if she lost her balance.

I crouched down beside her and carefully braced my arms around her chest so she could lean to the water. She stiffened in surprise and darted a look up at me. "Aerrow?"

"You look like you were having a hard time getting a drink. I'm worried you'll fall in, the way you are wobbling."

"Oh."

She quickly finished up and I helped her back to a normal sitting position. "Feel any better?"

She made a face. "Still hungry. And I feel so grimy right now." She looked wistfully at the water. "Do you think…?"

I raised my eyebrow. "Its up to you Piper. Do you think you can clean yourself up and not fall in or anything? Because you can try if you want. I feel pretty gross too."

She nodded. "I would love to get cleaned up."

"Okay. Well, I'm going to go sit over there on the other side of those trees. Be careful, okay?"

"I'm always careful."

I walked to where a couple of trees formed a nearby screen and sat with my back politely to her. I listened intently though. I had to make sure she didn't fall in, after all.

I heard some shuffling, then a light splash and a gasp. Apparently, the water was cold. I listened to the sounds of Piper moving around in the water, and against all reason, I felt my heart beating faster. My face turned red. I know it did. I felt the flush all the way from my shoulders.

Why was I blushing like that? Its not like…

Well, I admit it. I had seen a lot more of Piper in the past day or two than I had ever imagined before, and if there is one thing that all guys fall victim to, it is hormones. And I had behaved myself very well in my opinion, considering the circumstances. It was probably just the stress getting to me that was making me have…thoughts?

But still, it was kind of weird thinking those things about one of my best friends.

I shook my head to help clear my thoughts and concentrated hard on the leaves on the branches in front of me. A caterpillar was crawling slowly across one of them. It seemed to stop and peer at me for a moment before moving on.

The splashing in the water continued, coupled with a sigh of satisfaction.

My cheeks burned. Piper deserved better from her leader than such low thoughts. It was embarrassing.

"Aerrow?"

I jumped, then sheepishly scratched the back of my head with my left hand. "Yeah?" I answered, not turning around.

"I'm done. Your turn."

"Ah, okay." I reached down and grabbed the hem of my shirt, pulling it off as I turned—

--and smacked right into Piper. She winced, raising her hands up in a reflexive action to protect her chest. I dropped the shirt out of my hands, holding stock still. "OH no, are you okay?"

"I-uh… yeah." She was staring at her hands with an expression that looked like a cross between mortification and chagrin. I looked down and realized that her palms were resting flat against my chest.

My cheeks flared again.

She jerked her arms back to her side like she had been burned. "I'll-um, I'll stand over here." She averted her eyes and walked quickly, if stiffly, to the spot that I had just been standing in.

There wasn't much left to do but see to my own bathing. I scrubbed myself and my clothes down as best as I could manage, then called Piper to let her know it was all clear for her to come back to the water.

There was a small clearing there, soft with grass and the perfect place to camp. "Its useless to try to continue the climb in the dark with the way we are right now. I don't think we are really in any shape to go anywhere during the night. Lets go ahead and make camp here."

Piper nodded shortly and settled herself down on the grass. She stared at the little stream pensively. I recognized her posture. It was the same way she had sat during every break we had taken on the way up here and every line in her body spelled out her desire to be left alone.

It was growing darker. I leaned back on my elbows and stared up at the sky. There were clouds, but they were thin and wispy. The stars showed through brightly. I've always liked looking at the stars, but like I seem to have been saying about a lot of things lately, I never get the chance anymore. Even though I hurt like hell and I felt like I had been shoved through the wringer, I sincerely appreciated the chance to enjoy the little things that I so often take for granted.

Piper continued to sit stiffly over about five feet from me. She looked like she was shivering.

"Hey."

She didn't answer but I know she heard me. Her head moved slightly to my direction.

"You cold?"

A nod.

I sighed. I looked around. There was plenty of dried deadwood in the copse of trees. I stood up and started gathering both wood and stones. I arranged the stones in a circle, digging out the earth inside it with my hands. Then I laid out the wood and some brush in the makeshift fire pit. "Hang on a sec. I'll see if we cant get a fire going."

She watched me with tired eyes and a frown on her face. For some reason, the frown made me feel like I had said something wrong.

In short order the fire was crackling low in the pit and she and I had edged closer to it. The night grew chilly as it fell darker and darker around us and the fire was a definite welcome change to the cold that seemed like we had perpetually found ourselves in.

I looked up at her every now and then but she avoided my gaze. Finally, I sighed. "Okay, Piper. What's wrong?"

She jumped. "What? There's nothing wrong."

"Apparently there is. I don't know what I did, but it seems to have made you mad. I don't like trying to guess what I might have done to get you upset, and its even worse when we're out here fending for our lives. You aren't talking to me and you hardly look my way anymore. So there's got to be something wrong, unless you can enlighten me as to why one of my best friends in the world has suddenly decided that she was as little to do with me as she can."

"Its…its not that, Aerrow."

"Then what is it?" I asked, my voice full of exasperation. "I cant think of anything that could have made you this upset. I did my best to be a gentleman in the cave when we were stripped to our undergarments. I followed your directions to the tee when we were passing the crystals.. is that what I did? I didn't mean to detonate that thing! And afterward… I'm sorry I hurt you, Piper. I couldn't let you die. You weren't breathing!"

I took a deep breath. "I'm serious. I have been wracking my brain for whatever I did that was enough to make you clam up on me, but I don't think I did anything. So please, enlighten me, would you?"

Piper looked away again. "I cant tell you."

"Why not?"

"I just cant, Aerrow. Believe me, I would love to tell you. But I cant."

I sighed. "I'm sorry Piper. I don't even know what I did, but I'm sorry, okay?"

She didn't answer. Instead she poked the fire with a long stick. I watched her for a time, but she didn't show any signs of relenting. I frowned.

It hurt. I don't know why, but her silence hurt. She had never done that to me before. She and I had always been able to talk so openly all the time.

My best friend! And she didn't seem to want anything to do with me.

And why now, of all times? Why did this have to hit in the middle of a rather rough crisis? What changed in the past few days to make her withdraw?

I finally lowered myself down to the cushion of grass. I still watched her. Every now and then I saw the shine of the fire on her eyes, and I could tell that there was some sort of emotion withheld there. But I couldn't place my finger on it.

My heart thumped painfully. I didn't know if I could get to sleep, knowing that she was upset and it had to do with me.

It made me sad to see that she was upset and there was nothing I could do to help.

I tried one more time. "Hey…"

She flicked her eyes to me momentarily.

"Just… if you decide you can talk to me about it.. or if you need something.. wake me up okay? I just want to help you if I can. So… I wont mind."

Piper bit her lip and nodded at me.

That was just about all I was going to get, I supposed.

I stretched out. The fire was warm, but not too hot, and it soon had me lulled to a sleepy stupor even though my mind refused to be quiet. I could hear the hiss and pop of the embers as Piper poked at them with her stick.

I wasn't really asleep yet. But I must have looked like it. I felt a warm touch against my forehead that moved along my brow and through my hair, leaving pleasant tingles in its wake. It felt good. Natural. I didn't even open my eyes.

A droplet of water splashed onto my cheek. It lingered there for a moment before a callused thumb brushed it gently away.

I was so drowsy… comfortable.

I heard Piper's voice, even as I thought to myself that she seemed like to talk to me as I was entering sleep. She sounded sad, though. Especially when she said my name.

"Aerrow…" she sighed, "I cant tell you what's wrong…not if you don't know it already."

I drifted off to sleep listening to the merry popping of the fire though the comforting touch on my face and brow was keeping me far warmer than any flame.

OOO

Okay, short chapter again but it is the second update in one day. Yay me.

I have a feeling that it might be winding down now. I don't know though because I am not in control of the story anymore. Aerrow is, the bastard.

Anyhow, thanks for reading. I actually feel a little happy with this chapter, which is a first for me. I hope I kept them pretty much in character, but its getting to the point where that is becoming tougher to do. So let me know what you think!

Thank you so much for reading this far. I love that people like my work.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day was less grueling than the last. Piper and I had woken and drank our fill at the stream. We stretched out our tired limbs a bit before we regarded the looming terra with dismay.

"How long has it been already?" Piper asked. "I cant believe that the others haven't tried to look for us yet."

I shrugged. "I have no doubt they want to. But the Condor is in for refitting right now. They couldn't come looking in it. And the guys probably wouldn't have the first clue of how to get here on their skimmers."

"I forgot about that"

"Its all right though. We cant be too much further from our rides, right?"

"Yeah… but right now, all I wanna do is crash in my bed."

"Yeah, me too," I agreed.

Piper cleared her throat. I glanced back and saw her blush.

"Erm.." I said, "That came out wrong."

Though the frequent silences weren't as uncomfortable today as they were earlier, they were still noticeable. We didn't speak for another long moment. The only sounds I could hear were the grunts of effort issued by the two of us and the lonely whistle of some bird that flapped lazily in the sky.

Here and there the trail we were on widened enough to walk comfortably side by side, but it never remained that way for long. The worse of the steep inkling was behind us by this point. After a full night's rest near the fire, I felt more refreshed than I had since we began this trip. I still ached, but all of my pains could be set aside as long as I was engaged in doing something else. Piper seemed much better as well, but she is never one to complain when it comes to this sort of thing. I think that if I hadn't insisted on it, she wouldn't have even taken any breaks to rest. Never once did she say anything about her chest hurting, but every now and then I caught her gingerly pressing a hand to her ribs.

That was normally when I called for a rest.

Not much deviated from this set pattern. We hiked until I saw her start to falter, then we rested. When we were both able to draw a second wind, we got up and moved again. We fell into this rhythm of sorts.

It was during one of these stops that Piper grabbed my arm and pointed ahead. "Hey! Are those what I think they are?"

I squinted in the direction that she indicated. "Yeah… apple trees?"

"Lets go." She took off at a quick walk, but I could see by the way she held herself that even that effort hurt. I didn't say anything though.

The apples were small and tough, but by that time, neither of us were inclined to be choosy. They satisfied our hunger and that was enough. We had both downed several of the small fruits, sitting cross legged beneath the branches. Piper had her face turned upwards to the warmth of the sun. Her eyes were closed and there was a small smile on her face.

I found myself staring. There was something in the way the sun caught in her hair that was fascinating and I couldn't really put my finger on why.

I leaned back on my elbows and frowned. I could my forehead crease in consternation as I lost myself in thought. I didn't think about anything in particular, really, aside from the constant worry about Piper and whether I had actually done something to make her angry with me. Like I said earlier, I don't think I acted out of bounds, but you never know.

I didn't notice when she opened her eyes and caught me gazing fixedly at her face. I didn't even see the blush that rose up on her cheeks, taking the already dark shades to even duskier hues. "Uh… Aerrow?" she asked softly. "What's wrong?"

I jerked back from my musings. She had moved a little closer and was in the process of reaching out to my shoulder. Probably to shake me out of my stupor.

I caught her hand. There were holes in my glove and where my skin touched hers, it seared with heat. I blinked. "Uhh…"

Piper had grown very still. My grip on her hand tightened a minute degree.

"Uhh…" I said again. All of a sudden I was swamped with that weird fluttery feeling that started in my gut. It swept outwards from the pit of my stomach, suffusing my limbs and making me just a little bit lightheaded. I felt my face burn almost instantly. To my surprise, I found myself sitting up and I was still watching her intently. She was returning my gaze with wide, surprised eyes.

Something glittered in the depths of her eyes but I couldn't really put my hand on it. She looked nervous.

My hand suddenly twitched and I let her go quickly. "I…uhh, that is… Um.."

Thrusting myself up from my reclining position and standing, I rubbed my hands vigorously through my hair. I waited a moment. One embarrassing moment where I could tell that she was watching me act like a fool. When I was sure that I would be able to control my tongue, I said, "Lets get going. We can probably make some good time now that we've eaten."

Even to me, my voice sounded odd and unsteady.

"Sure." She sighed, "Lets go."

OOO

Okay. What was that all about?

I glared at the ground in front of me. By now it had become a steep slope, but still easily navigable even to our tired bodies. I almost wished it was harder. Maybe then it would be necessary to use enough effort so I could keep from thinking so much.

I couldn't identify what was going on. I don't even know how many days it had been since we had started out on this so called crystal hunting trip. It was bad enough that we were pretty lost on a terra that we didn't know too well, but I was having the strangest thoughts about Piper. My friend. Teammate.

As a rule, I had never paid much attention to girls. I mean, sure, I would notice if someone was pretty or something like that. What guy wouldn't? Its pretty much hardwired into our genes. But I never tried to instigate anything more than a friendship with anyone. The type of life I lived.. well, it would be cruel. I never stayed in one place for very long, nor did I really return often to the places I had been to before. So it was just easier to ignore that side of life.

But that funny feeling I had begun to get lately around Piper.. Why?

She had looked so shocked when I grabbed her hand. I was shocked too. Why had I done that? Why did I feel so funny? Why was I staring at her so hard in the first place?

I think I've mentioned it earlier. Its not like Piper is rough on the eyes. And I had seen a lot of Piper lately… both figuratively and literally. That funny fuzzy feeling returned for a moment as a memory flashed before my mind. Piper's long, strong limbs, layered with lean muscle. My arms holding her close against my chest in order to keep her warm. Her head resting against me comfortably. The sound of her low humming that moment when I woke up and found her playing with my arm.

I rubbed my hands over my face. This was too much to deal with right now.

But…

I glanced over my shoulder at Piper. She walked with her head down. Her shoulders were slumped. Looking at her, I felt like I had done something wrong.

Again.

"Hey," I threw over my shoulder. "You doing okay?"

She waited a minute before she replied. "Yeah."

"Um… I'm sorry about… earlier."

"Don't worry about it. You didn't do anything wrong."

More awkward silence.

Man, this was getting old. My brain was starting to hurt from thinking about this so much.

I stopped right there on the trail. After a heartbeat or two, I felt Piper blunder into my back. At her yelp of surprise, I turned and looked down at her, crossing my arms over my chest. "That's it."

"What?"

"There's something wrong. I am apparently part of the cause of it. You aren't talking, and now I'm going in mental circles trying to figure it out."

She blinked up at me.

"So I'm staying right here until you decide to enlighten me on what the hell is going on." I continued.

"Don't be stupid, Aerrow."

I stood firm. She looked around me, but the trail we were on was narrow. She would never be able to make it around me safely and I was betting on the fact that her chest still hurt enough to keep her from trying anyway. I was right, and she settled back to glare at me.

"I'm not being stupid. If whatever is bothering you isn't cleared up, its liable to distract us from our survival. So just tell me what is wrong so we can either put it on hold or take care of it."

"I cant tell you Aerrow!"

"Why?"

"Because! Too much would change!"

"What would change? What could you possibly say right here and now that would change anything?" By now, we were almost nose to nose. We weren't exactly shouting at each other, but we were getting a little heated. "You're my best friend, Piper. We talk about everything in the world. What can there possibly be that you need to keep secret from me?"

"That's the whole reason I _cant_ tell you, Aerrow," She shot back, "You and I are best _friends._ Dammit, that's the whole problem!"

With that, she shoved me aside. I fell into the cliff face and she strode by me while I was unbalanced. "Piper, wait!"

She looked over her shoulder. "I don't think I can, Aerrow."

I got a weird feeling. It didn't seem like she was referring to waiting up for me on this little trail on the cliff.

It sorta felt like she was talking about something else that I was just too dense to grasp.

OOO

It I thought it was uncomfortable before, then this was acute agony. She walked ahead of me, stiff and unyielding. The lines of her posture warned me away from saying anything more to her, at least until she cooled down.

The sun had passed further into the afternoon. The summit of the cliff was coming in sight. I was beat. This climb would be rough even if we were at out peak, and we were doing it half dead. Actually, I'm pretty sure we only made it as fast as we did because we were running off of the annoyance factor that followed after I tried to get what was wrong out of her earlier.

Even though we were so close, I could tell we wouldn't make it within the day. It was too much. My muscles were starting to burn and I could only guess how Piper's body must be feeling. I didn't reach out to touch her, but I called her all the same. "Piper, we're stopping for the night."

Her back stiffened at my voice but she turned off the trail. We were lucky the terra had frequent plateaus to stop on. This one was bereft of both water and trees but it was covered with grass. It would suffice for resting tonight.

There wasn't much to do for making our camp. It wasn't as though we had much to set up, being almost completely without possessions. So soon we found ourselves sitting in the grass across from each other. She was finding any place to look besides me, and I was eyeing her out of the corner of my eye.

I think I just made things worse.

"We'll probably make it to the top tomorrow." I offered.

"Good."

I sighed. "I'm sorry Piper."

"About what?"

"Just… I don't know. I guess I'm sorry that I have made you mad. And I made it worse today, I think. I don't know why things are changing like this but I never meant for it. I just don't understand what's bothering you, and it makes me worry." I turned my face downward. "I find myself worrying about you a lot lately."

"I'm sorry.."

"About what?" I asked, smiling slightly at the redundancy of our conversation.

"I wish I could tell you, Aerrow. But-"

"You cant. I know. Still.. the offer stands. You can talk to me about anything Piper. Anything at all. I promise I wont laugh or make fun of you. Just… keep that in mind, would you?" I sighed.

Silence descended with the onset of nighttime. A cold wind blew over the ground, unbroken by any trees. I started to shiver.

"Cold tonight."

"Yeah," she murmured.

I wrapped my arms around my legs and stared off into the clouds. I heard a rustle as Piper moved around, but I didn't look over.

It took me totally by surprise when I felt warm arms drape around my shoulders. Piper came to sit next to me. "I'm cold too."

I smiled slightly in the dark. That fluttery feeling returned again, but rather than confusing me, it felt kinda good. We leaned against each other, sharing our warmth once again.

OOO

Okay, there's a short update. I'm going to try again tonight for another update, hopefully longer than this.

By the way, I know I missed updating yesterday. Real life intruded. I'm going to make up for it though!

Oh yeah, I promised fluff. So… even though its not as fluffy as most, its pretty fluffy for this fic, no?

Thank you for reading. Please let me know how I did!


	10. Chapter 10

I have never seen a sight more wonderful than those two skimmers. They stood near the trees as though they had been waiting for us to come and get them.

Well, really, they had.

I pulled myself up from the ledge and thrust out my hands to help bring Piper up too. She winced and gasped in pain when her ribs scraped against the rocky ground but that pain was soon forgotten when she saw her heliscooter waiting just fifty feet away.

"What are the odds," I mused.

Piper wobbled. That last few feet of the climb was almost vertical. I really don't know how she made it up like that. I mean, were I in the same position, I don't know how I would have done it. Piper's really strong.

I grabbed her arm as she swayed. Her face was pinched with the effort of holding in her pain. I helped her walk over to our rides.

"I am so glad we're done with that… Aerrow, remind me next time I want to go off like that… just remind me not to do it."

I shrugged. "It wasn't a bad idea, you know. I think we should have prepared just a little more, though." I stared at where we had just come from. "Do you remember a cliff being there when we landed?"

Piper looked at me like I had grown another head. "Well, I don't think it just appeared there out of no where. We weren't exactly looking for cliffs though."

I scratched the back of my head. "Still… I think I would have noticed a cliff… Oh well. What do you say we get away from here?"

She nodded, but hesitated. "I think I might need to wait a moment. Why don't we try to contact the Condor with our skimmer radio? My chest is killing me after that climb. I need to rest a second."

I nodded and we set off toward the rides.

I don't think I have ever been so happy to see that skimmer. And believe me, that is saying a lot. I love my skimmer. I spend a lot of time with my skimmer. My skimmer and I go together like a hand in a glove. We get along great all the time. It never makes me confused and giddy. It never gets mad and shuts down on me. I always know when it doesn't feel quite right and all it takes to make it happy again is a couple fuel crystals or a tweak with a wrench.

Yeah, me and my skimmer make a great team.

I shot a glance over at Piper. She leaned against her heliscooter with her arms wrapped around her middle.

Piper was nothing like my skimmer.

Piper confused me. Especially lately. She didn't have an on or off switch. There was no way for me to easily tell what to do to make things better. She was fun to hang out with but she could switch moods at the drop of a hat. She did things that I couldn't fathom the reason for, and lately, she'd been making all sorts of weird emotions go through me.

I mean, it probably had only been maybe three or four days but it felt like it had been a lot longer. And in those few days she had made me confused, hurt, worried, scared for her life, uncomfortable… she had caused that weird fluttering sensation in the pit of my stomach…

I don't know if I will ever understand Piper.

Turning to my radio, I talked into the transmitter. "Condor, Aerrow."

After a minute, static crackled across the receiver. "Aerrow! Where the hell are you!"

"Hey Finn. We had a bit of a mishap."

"You guys okay? Was it Cyclonians?

"This far into Atmosia territory? No way. But we are a little worse for wear. We'll tell you all about it when we get in. Is everything okay there?"

"Dude, if I have to endure one more of Stork's end of the world practice drills, I'm shooting someone. Maybe you. You need any help? The ship's in docks for at least another week but Junko and I can come if you need us to."

"We should be able to manage. Can you tell everyone we're okay? And tell Stork to get some first aid stuff ready. Nothing too major, just some scratches, but Piper's cracked a rib or two."

"Dude… what happened?"

"I'll tell you when we get back. Aerrow out."

I looked over at Piper. She was still tenderly massaging her ribs. I left my skimmer where it was and meandered over to her. "Hey."

"Hey." She looked up.

"So… ah.. do you feel any better?"

I was rewarded with a smile. "Yeah. But I'm sorry for falling asleep on you like that last night. I guess it was just so comfortable…" She dropped her head with a blush.

"Yeah.. but I think it was pretty comfortable too. And I'm glad you got to sleep a little… I know you've been have a rough time of it." When we had woken that morning on that little grassy spot on the trail, I had been laying flat on my back with my right arm stretched far over my head. Piper had been laying perpendicular to me with her head pillowed on my stomach. That would have been embarrassing enough save for the fact that my left arm was draped over her middrift with my hand splayed out in an almost protective fashion.

Now, that would have been mortifying for me. I have said many times that I have tried to respect Piper's space. But her hand was laying over mine. To make matters even more awkward, her fingers were entwined with mine.

When I had woken up, I went to stretch like I normally do after a good night's sleep. Imagine my surprise when I found myself holding Piper's hand!

After that… well, it was another round of embarrassed apologies and blushing glances. I felt oddly elated, but couldn't think of any way to articulate that without looking or sounding like a complete nutjob.

Piper crossed her arms self consciously. "I didn't mean to.."

"I don't mind." I think I said that a little too quickly. She looked up at me sharply, but then stood up straight.

"Yeah… well…"

"I talked to Finn," I interrupted, changing the subject. "He said that they were worried, but they couldn't come out here because of the refit on the Condor."

"That makes sense."

"We can leave when you are ready, though. I don't want to rush you. But I do know that it will be a long ride."

"Just a moment. I should be okay in a couple minutes. That climb just jostled me a little toward the end."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

She peered around and thrust a thumb in the direction of the large pool of water that we had landed near those long days ago. "I'm kinda thirsty. Come with me to get a drink?"

"Sure."

I walked with her, one hand out and ready in case she should falter. I was feeling rather happy right now. For the past few hours, whatever Piper had kept bottled up inside seemed to have subsided. She kept up her normal banter with me, and she didn't seem to have the same sort of aversion to my touch whenever I came near her. Maybe something had fallen into place for her last night.

I gave myself a mental shrug. Whatever it was, I was glad that she was Piper again.

She did rather well on the walk to the pool. Then again, walking thirty or forty feet across flat land is nothing compared to scaling a cliff. The water was clear as the sky and I could see my reflection within its depths. It smelled sweet and fresh.

Piper needed a little help to kneel at the edge of the water, but that was easy enough to assist with. I sat down comfortably next to her, cross legged and leaning back on my hands. There was a breeze blowing across the smooth surface of the pool that rustled my hair gently. Really, this would be an awesome place for a picnic. I glanced over at Piper to say exactly that, but jumped when I saw her looking directly back at me with serious eyes and a determined expression on her face.

"Aerrow."

"Mmm?"

"I need to say something to you."

"Go ahead Piper. You know we can talk about anything."

"I know. But this is… different. I need a promise from you first."

"What do you need?"

"I need you to promise that when I am done, you will pretend I never told you what I'm about to tell you."

I blinked. "That's odd."

"You have to promise me."

"But.. why?"

"Its better this way. Trust me."

"I do trust you… I think it sounds a bit strange, but okay. I promise."

Piper gave what sounded like a sigh of relief. "Good. I was afraid you'd refuse and I think if I cant tell you.. I'll go crazy. Not that I'm going to be doing any better afterward…"

"Well," I said, settling back on my elbows. I returned my gaze out to the water. "Go ahead."

"Okay… well, you remember how I told you I didn't want to let you know what was bothering me earlier?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Well… I didn't want to tell you because… well, its because its you."

I frowned, hurt. "Uh… so, what did I do?" I looked over at her, but she was fiddling with a pebble, staring at it with amazing intensity.

"Nothing." She whispered. "You didn't do anything."

"Oh…"

I ruminated on that for a moment. "But if I didn't do anything, how did I make you mad?"

"You didn't."

"Now I'm confused."

"Its alright. I'm pretty sure that it will get worse before it gets better."

I settled down again and waited for her to continue.

"Aerrow, you are my best friend in the world. I mean, I don't think you have a malicious bone in your body. And I admire you for it. You are so selfless. You never put yourself before others, ever. And you probably don't even notice the women who bat their eyes at you in the hopes of gaining your attention."

"Wha?"

"Exactly. You've never noticed that you're usually mobbed by the eligible young girls in every port call we make to any major city?"

"Not really… not any more than you or the rest of the guys. Its not like we're celebrities, you know."

"We're not. But you are, Aerrow. You're young, good looking, a sky knight. You're so pure and honest and you have an innocent face." This made me blush. Sure, I knew I was good at what I did, but I had never had anyone call me good looking to my face before.

Cue the fuzzy feelings in my tummy that I had come to associate with Piper. I raised an eyebrow. I had an inkling of where this might be going, but…

"Aerrow. I keep trying to find to words to spare myself the most embarrassment, but I cant. And since you will never knowingly break a promise, I think I can just come out and tell you. That way, I can have it off my chest and I can go back to normal. And we can forget about this whole damned trip to this little terra."

Piper took in a deep breath. "You're dense."

"Hey!"

"You're so dense that you will never pick up on my feelings for you unless I spell them out in giant block letters. That's what is bothering me Aerrow. You. Its you. Its because I have started to think of you as more than just a friend, and I know that a friend is all I will ever be."

My mouth worked, but no words came out. I don't think my brain was cooperating with my motor skills at this point.

Piper painfully levered herself up from her sitting position. I jumped up automatically to help her. "Piper…I-"

"No."

"But-"

"No. You promised. I told you why I was upset. Now you know. And now, you need to forget I ever said anything."

She turned and ambled back down toward the skimmers.

My mind whirled ineffectually.

I couldn't do anything but follow her back. We were both in our own worlds as we launched ourselves off of that tiny rock of a terra. She didn't invite conversation on the way home. I never tried to initiate it.

I simply watched her from behind, reeling from the revelation, as we sped through the skies towards home.

OOO

We're in the home stretch!

I have one more update in mind for this one. Possibly two, depending on how the next one goes. This was a bit awkward to write and I almost did something really, really evil, but I think I'll be nice to Aerrow this time around.

My evilness will manifest in another fic for Aerrow, I think. Bwaha.

Anyhow, please review. I hope to update one more time tonight.


	11. Chapter 11

It was quiet in the wee hours of the morning. I couldn't hear anyone else moving around so I figured I was the only one up this early..

I pulled on my sweats and grabbed a towel, then made my way out to the hangar deck. Even though I had just spent the past few days pushing my body to its endurance, I still wanted to get a workout in. Working out is good for the mind as well as the body. I am able to think if I want to, but I can also lose myself in the motions if thinking is too much for the moment.

The Condor was still sitting in dry-docks. We should be ready to pull out within the next few days, according to Stork.

I stopped by the kitchen to grab a bottle of water before continuing outside.

The sky drifted overhead in its lazy way and I stared up at it while I stretched out. Just like I had done so many days ago, I began with simple, small exercises to get my heart rate up.

I guess I didn't hear the doors to the interior of the Condor open and close quietly. I was hurting-after the trials of the past few days the workout was a lot more painful than usual. But then again, the pain is how you know its working, when it comes to physical activity. Besides, it kept my mind off of things.

So it really was a surprise when I stopped for a water break and saw Piper sitting up against a wall with a sketch pad and her pencils. I took a long pull from my water bottle, watching her. She looked up at me.

"Hey." I crooked a couple of fingers in a wave. She smiled, albeit forced, and returned the gesture.

"'Morning Aerrow."

"What are you up so early for?"

"Just didn't feel like sitting in my room alone."

I shrugged. "Same here."

She said nothing more, so I turned to go continue my work out. I had made it all the way to some of the advanced sky fu moves. I was really working up a sweat. My muscles burned.

Every now and then I caught a glimpse of Piper looking up at me quickly before jerking her gaze back down to her sketch book. Strange behavior, but it wasn't like things were really normal anymore.

Normal. I guess that is my real problem. I don't know how to act around Piper anymore. I mean, I know I promised to forget what she told me that day, but its kinda hard. When someone tells you that they like you… more than a friend, that is, it sends a sort of shock message to your brain.

I mean, Piper's so smart and pretty. It's a little hard to believe that she'd have any sort of romantic inclination towards me. Like she said before, I can be pretty dense about some things.

I'd never even imagined she had ever harbored feelings like that for me. And I never thought that I would ever return them. Even now, I wasn't too sure. I remembered the weird butterflies she evoked in my stomach every now and then and blushed.

Its not like I've had much experience with girls anyway. I don't have the time.

My eyes strayed to Piper again. She was regarding her sketch with her brow furrowed. Her pencil was tapping lightly against her lower lip. I sighed.

I didn't think I would be getting much more of a workout. My limbs were limp with fatigue. And working out with an audience just didn't appeal to me right now.

OOO

I spent a good part of the following days holed up in my room. There wasn't much to do right now, with missions on hold and it was one of the few times where the guys could just chill out and relax on their own. Normally, I would be out there hanging out with Finn and Junko too, but not right now. There was too much going on in my head.

I couldn't stop thinking about that last few minutes on that terra. Piper liked me. She said so… and that stirred up all sorts of weird emotions that I just never paid attention to before. Even now, I don't know how to react to the revelation. I mean, she's pretty and all. She's smart, kind, and can make a hell of a plan. Her skills as a navigator are unparalleled and she's invaluable to the team. I don't think we could do this whole thing without her. And to top it all off, she knows how to cook.

But all that I just listed… excellent qualities for a teammate. She's a superb best friend. She is always there for all of us, even Finn, but you'd never hear him admit to that.

So why was I so confused? I mean, she told me that she wanted me to forget about it once she told me. I had told her that she could count on me for anything. I had promised to do as she said. There was no reason for me to break my word. If I did, then she would probably just get angry at me… and can you imagine the reaction of the guys if I said or did anything about it?

That was probably why she extracted that promise from me. I wouldn't want to have to deal with the ribbing if I were in her shoes. Junko and Stork wouldn't be that bad but I know that Finn would never be able to help himself. Piper and Finn would probably have seriously wounded each other within a week if her confession became common knowledge.

So it was really surprising when peace of mind came to me in the form of that blonde sharpshooter.

It was about noon, I think, when Finn knocked on my door. Like usual, he didn't even wait for me to answer before he came strolling right in. Like I said a while ago, we all learn to cope with the lack of personal space. Finn just copes better than most, I guess.

"Hey buddy."

"What's up Finn?" I asked. I was reclining in my bed with my forearm thrown over my eyes. I didn't deign to move when he came in and flopped on my chair.

"Well, I figured I'd come on over to get the whole scoop about what happened on that terra." I couldn't see him but I knew he was waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"We fell down. A lot."

"I got that from the official brief. Duh."

"Then you know what happened."

I heard a shift, then a thump as his boots landed on my desk. "Yeah, yeah. But you'd have to be either blind or Junko to not see how gloomy you and Piper are. Dude, did you totally blow her off?"

I started. Shoving myself up on my elbows, I stared at Finn. "What?"

He had his back facing me as he reclined in my chair, the front legs of which were tilted off the ground. He laced his hands behind his head and shrugged.

I could almost see the smug grin he had to have had on his face. "Aerrow, you are the only one on the whole ship who didn't have a clue. So let me guess. She told you, you decided that for the good of the team you couldn't do anything, she got huffy, and you both left." He glanced over his shoulder, blue eyes flashing. "Am I right?"

"Actually…no."

"Huh. And here I thought I had it all worked out. Something happened though."

"Yeah…"

There was a pause, and Finn settled the chair back onto the ground and turned to look at me. He regarded me with a seriousness that I have rarely seen affect him. After a minute, he laughed. "Aerrow, you're so dense."

"Hey!"

"Just sayin'. I mean, come on. A pretty girl hits on you and you say no? How lame. Oh, and never tell Piper I just said that."

Having gotten over my shock at Finn's original words, I rolled me eyes. The anxious, fluttery feeling was back. "Really, should I be taking advice from you about women? And think about it, Finn. She's part of the team. How weird would that be?"

"Hey, I happen to know a lot about women! As for weirdness, how weird is it that you ignore just about every girl who shows an interest in you? Dude, seriously, sometimes I worry about you."

Finn got up and walked to my door. "Just trust me, Aerrow. You cant be a superhero forever. Be human for once."

Then he was gone.

OOO

I think that knocking on Piper's door was the hardest thing I had ever done before.

Facing the Dark Ace? Easy. Matching words with Cyclonis? Cake.

Eating Junko's cooking? That was nothing compared to this.

There was a long quiet moment before I heard a muffled 'Come in'.

Piper was sitting at her desk with her art pad when I entered. I heard the door shut smoothly behind me. "Hey."

She looked up, acknowledged me with a glance, then went back to her drawing. She was sketching with wide, sweeping strokes.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. My chest should be okay in a couple weeks as long as I don't do too much to agitate things."

"That's good. I was…am worried about you."

She flipped the sketch book closed and turned to look at me quizzically. "I'm fine, Aerrow. There's no need to be worried."

I sighed. "I know. Don't care though."

"Is there anything you need? What did you come down here for?"

"I just…" I raked my hands through my hair. "Piper. I need to talk to you."

"But-"

"Look," I charged on, interrupting her before she could say anything, "Its about what happened on the terra. I know you made me promise to forget what you said but I don't think I will be able to. We need to get this all settled between us before it starts to affect the whole team."

She looked away. "I know. I don't want the squadron to be impacted. I shouldn't have said anything to you."

"Its not that."

"Yes it is! As much as I want to blame you Aerrow, its all my fault."

"Now hold on."

She stared at me. The look in her eyes kinda hurt. She looked scared. I didn't want her to be scared… didn't like it when she looked at me like that.

"Mind if I sit down?"

She gestured to the other chair. I scooted it up to her table and sat next to her, leaning my elbow on the surface of the desk and resting my hand on my fist. I turned to look at her. "I just want to say I'm sorry first."

She deflated at my words. "You shouldn't be sorry Aerrow. You aren't beholden to me at all-"

"For Atmos sake-Piper, please, let me finish."

She pressed her mouth shut. She looked like she was about to cry, but she didn't look away from me. Good. "I wanted to say I'm sorry.. because I don't think I can keep my promise to you.

'I mean… ever since that terra I've been having such weird feelings and I've been pushing it all away because I thought it was wrong. Wrong to feel anything more than friendship about a teammate. I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I'm…dammit."

I looked around. I was just making myself flustered. She obediently stayed quiet, allowing me to talk. I sighed. "I guess what I'm trying to say is… I'm not sure what I'm feeling. I like you, Piper. You're smart, funny, you care about all of us. You are always there to back me up and I love your cooking. You're talented.

'Most of all… you're strong. And you make the rest of us stronger too. I'm so much more for just having you with us. And… well, I'm sorry I never noticed it before, but I seem to have this amazing ability to be completely clueless."

I fumbled clumsily for her hand. "I'm sorry… I'm not too good at this… but, Piper, if you wouldn't mind… would you let me make it up to you?"

She stared at me, then looked at where my hand clasped hers in a loose grip. I could feel my cheeks burning. I bet my skin was the color of my hair, and even her dark skin flushed. "I…"

At her hesitation, I was swamped with uncertainty. I flexed my hand quickly, releasing her, and made to get up. "Oh. Man, I knew that was a stupid move. Sorry Piper. We can just forge-"

"No! Wait." She stood up just as I did, causing our foreheads to collide.

I rubbed my head and squinted down at her. She was looking up at me. "Aerrow, wait. Please."

I lowered my hands. Uncertainty was running through ever limb of my body.

Piper sighed. It didn't sound depressed or upset, and I held myself tightly, ready to flee at a moment's notice. Gingerly, she took hold of my hand again. "Its okay, Aerrow. I was actually hoping that you would break your promise… because even after I told you, it didn't make things any better."

"Oh… okay." I shifted me weight a bit and rubbed my free hand through my hair. "So… What now?"

Piper laughed, but I could tell that she was feeling the awkward tension of this whole situation. "You really are completely clueless, aren't you?"

OOO

The end? Who knows?

Don't worry. There's one more update. It wont be terribly fluffy, but it will probably be the fluffiest one yet. It isn't written yet but it will be a good closure.

Before people start getting upset that I haven't made them kiss, I want to say this: The whole point of this romance fic was putting out the possibility of them actually getting together. It was more about the journey than anything else.

Besides, the way things turned out in this chapter, a kiss would be waaay too stereotypical and likely would have ruined any in characterness I have going.

But look out tonight for the next (and last) update.

I also want to say that I think Finn is a very deep character, and that I have perfect confidence that even through all of his idiocy he would be able to see the chemistry between the two in this. Hence why he was the one to set Aerrow's head on straight. And it makes me laugh to hear Finn giving Aerrow a 'grow a pair' speech.

Anyhow, please read and review!


	12. Chapter 12

I don't get much time to myself.

I've learned how to adapt to it, though. You know.. you share the last piece of cake. You don't hog the bathroom when everyone is trying to wake up and get ready in the morning. You respect each others space as much as you can, even though when you live right on top of each other it's a little hard.

You learn to sense each others moods. You stay out of each others business, unless you are invited, of course.

I was spending the morning in the lab with Piper. The Condor had been back in flight status for several weeks now, and we were on our way to another of our numerous missions. But today was basically a free day since we wouldn't be doing much but going from one point to another. Normally, I wouldn't be just dallying in the lab, but today was different.

Piper had asked if I could just slow down to spend some time with her, so I had gone ahead and foregone my morning work out. You have to take some time to just... enjoy life. Do things like look at rainbows.

I smiled a bit at that thought. Rainbows are pretty.

She wasn't doing much out of the ordinary today. She was refining some crystal or another for Finn's crossbow, I think.

We stayed there in comfortable silence, every now and then smattered with light conversation. It was nice. It felt good to slow down and relax. It gave me some time to think, without distractions.

Well, aside from the distraction of watching Piper work. It was like watching a living work of art. Such was her talent… and now that I can freely admit it to myself, such was her own beauty as well.

But I was also thinking my own thoughts. Lately I have tried to be more introspective. According to Finn, I'm as dense as a lead paperweight when it comes to the more delicate circumstances surrounding the people I care about. That comparison kinda bothered me, because I never really thought of Finn as the most empathetic individual in the world. So who was he to tell me something like that? I couldnt let him show me up.

So I have lately tried to expand my understanding of those around me.

I think that I have been a little unfair to the team. The audacity to think that I could demand that they stay safe for my own conscience is really astounding, when you think about it. We all have our reasons for being here, and I have no right to try to shield the others so completely from the world we live in. I mean, I don't want to lose any of them, and I have slowly become aware of the fact that they feel that way about me.

You just cant expect your team to conform to your demands without an explanation. And you cant expect them to follow rules that you yourself do not ascribe to.

I mean… you have to look out for each other, right?

And on top of all that, you build lifelong relationships with people that you fight alongside. I would gladly give my life for each and every one of my teammates. I care for each of them like they are family.

Because, really, we are all each other has. We ARE a family, no matter how different we look or act.

Take Junko, for instance. For such a big guy, he's just a huge softy. You walk into his room and you see stuffed animals and books. You look at him, and that's the last thing you would expect among his personal possessions. He is the most innocent out of all of us, but he constantly surprises me with the depth of his understanding. He's almost like that crazy younger brother I never had.

And speaking of crazy family members, I don't think I could ever trade Stork for anyone else. Its because of him that we all survive as well as we do. I mean, even back on the terra, we would have been toast if it wasn't for his foibles and obsessive paranoia about personal safety. He's the one who patched Piper and I up after we came back. And really, I have lost count of the amount of times he's put both me and my skimmer back in working order after a fight. So I can safely say that without him, I might not even be here now.

As for people who watch my back… Really, can you come any closer than Finn? Sure, he's got a knack for being annoying, but he's there when it really counts. He and I are best buds. Brothers, even. He sometimes knows me even better than I do myself. Strangely enough, he is the one who tends to set me back on the right path when I falter or wander to the wayside. I know he's loads smarter than he acts, and I guess that he just hides it for some reason. Could just be a defense mechanism. I mean, he might even be able to give Piper a run for her money in the smarts department if he put his mind to it. I don't think he'd ever bother, though.

Piper.

If there is one person who I cant comfortably insert into a familial role, it has to be Piper. If you'd have asked me a few weeks ago, I would have immediately told you that she was like my favorite sister, or maybe just my best friend. We held no secrets from each other and we shared a camaraderie that would leave most people breathless. She and I have stood shoulder to shoulder against many an obstacle. She's never backed down and I respect her for that. She's been a bastion of strength for the whole group, and I don't think even she realizes how important she really is to the team.

How important she is to me.

It took me a while to realize that. I don't even know if I'm really all that comfortable with the idea yet. But I can say this: Piper is definitely not like a sister to me anymore, if she ever really was in the first place. It has come to the point where I don't know what I would do without her by my side, holding me up when it gets stormy, backing me up when I'm right, and making sure I know when I'm wrong. Its like…

Its like…

She makes me strong.

Stronger, I guess.

I never really understood that. Not until today. I always worried about being the best I could. Working myself to the point where I could show marked improvements, physically and mentally. I always strove to accomplish that which others said was impossible. I took no excuses.

No was never an answer to me.

I couldn't stop. Too many people depended on me, and I couldn't let them down.

So I had to be stronger in every way I could.

But see, I never realized that as strong as I could make myself on my own, it was nothing in the face of how much the others contributed.

So I discovered something today.

I could never let any of them go. We were a family. Piper and I… well, I'll have to explore that one a little more. She makes me happy, sad, confused, and elated all at once.

She…

She just…

I cant even find the words to describe her. I don't even know how I feel about it all, not yet. But I do know this:

I'm more than I could be, when I am with her.

I smiled. Looking across the table at Piper as she worked on those crystals that held her full attention, I let my gaze wander over her dark skin. I allowed myself a chuckle at her thick inspection goggles that made her warm eyes far too big in her small face. I reveled in the thrill that tickled my spine when she looked up at me with a small, quirky grin I have come to recognize as one she reserves for me alone.

"What?" She asked, planted one hand on her hip while the other rested casually on the table. "Something funny?"

I shook my head. "No. Just thinking."

"Huh." She leaned back down to the crystal she was inspecting. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing much," I replied. Then I paused, leaning back against the counter behind me. "Just…"

"Just what?"

"Just…" I watched her, struck with inspiration and a burgeoning emotion that was still so unfamiliar to me that I couldn't bring myself to put a name to it.

"I feel stronger today."

OOO

There. All done. I know its short, but its more of an epilogue than a chapter

I like to end things with an introspective touch, especially after all the uncertainty that Aerrow was awash in throughout this fic. He finally got his mental feet underneath him, I think.

This also leaves it open for me to write a companion fic if I decide to come back sometime in the future.

By the way, if you enjoyed this fic, I highly encourage you to thank Madame Lady. It would not have been written if she hadn't asked me to assist her with one of her upcoming fics. Helping with that cleared up my writer's block like magic and this is the result.

If you liked my work, please review. If you have a constructive criticism, please review as well.

I have another chapter fic in the works that should be hitting the pages soon. I may take a few days off to give my hands some rest from typing, but it will be a romance fic. What pairing? Well, cant tell you. The plot will be so much better if you are kept guessing.

Thank you for reading this far. I am honored that people enjoy my stuff enough to stick with it this long.


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